Two libertarians debate the welfare state, pro and con

Bryan Caplan says No:
I’m a hard-core libertarian who defines libertarianism broadly. If you think voluntarism is seriously underrated and government is seriously overrated, you’re a libertarian in my book.” word-cloud-for-welfare-stateBut, “when libertarians start describing Danish ‘flexicurity’ with deep admiration, however, I don’t just doubt their libertarian commitment. More importantly, I wonder why they changed their minds.

Matt Zwolinski says Yes:
“I think some form of state-based welfare is defensible on libertarian grounds. And I think a lot of the resistance to this idea among libertarians is based on a misunderstanding of the libertarian intellectual tradition.” And: “libertarian opposition to state-based welfare is neither as absolute nor as universal as is commonly supposed.”

2 thoughts on “Two libertarians debate the welfare state, pro and con”

  1. Here in Lake Tahoe every year bears and their cubs roam through the neighborhoods. Some people just think it is sweet and only right to feed and encourage their visits. Unfortunately the more they get, they don’t train their cubs to forage but to break into homes ,tear apart car interiors and when confronted to become openly hostile. Still worse if they aren’t caught and released further into the forest, they are shot and filled.
    I truly believe human nature follows the same pattern. Encouraging free, undeserved help just makes for helpless and sometimes dangerous individuals.

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