Messages

1

Current Events / Re: Alternative Media

« on: September 13, 2016, 04:21:20 PM »

James Corbett at corbettreport.com is certainly one of the best in the biz.  He offers great analysis of current events as well as producing pretty good quality documentaries on some of the more important moments and organizations in history.  You can also check out his channel on Youtube.

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Another whole-hearted recommendation for James Corbett.

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The Philosophy of Freedom/Libertarianism/Doctrine of free will / Re: Help me understand a Voluntarist society

« on: September 01, 2016, 12:32:40 PM »

Let's say somebody is raped, and hires somebody on the market to look into the matter. What gives the free market vigilante the right to infringe on the rapists rights? Many times cases of rape are actually just cases where two people both drank too much and somebody regrets or doesn't remember what happened due to being intoxicated. I have actually seen this scenario play out many times. Maybe the defendant is not really a rapist, but the person who was hired isn't paid by the defendant so they will not want to listen to them. What if the rapist really is a rapist, but pays the vigilante even more money to leave him alone? It is a free market society after-all, and the highest bidder wins. This is where I see the problem. I feel like there has to be some agreed upon system in place to handle situations like this. In a utopia nobody would ever get raped, but I don't believe in man-kind that much.

I don't have time to address your entire post, but I wanted to respond to this idea about "the highest bidder."

If you were to take up the security / investigation profession, would YOU be merely open to the highest bidder, or would you base your business model and your reputation on doing what is right?  If you would not conduct yourself in this manner, why would you assume that others would? 

Sure, there will be corrupt people, just as there are now.  What makes you think that government police are not also for sale to the highest bidder?  How does a government monopoly on the provision of these services make corruption less likely?  Doesn't any monopoly lend itself to MORE corruption than competitive markets?

Another thing to consider with the rapist scenario, is that having market based justice systems do NOT empower investigators or security agents with power to execute sentences.  Nor would they have "qualified immunity" like government cops either, making them WAY more cautious about apprehending innocent people.  There would still be courts and juries who decide guilt or innocence based on evidence.  These too would compete in the marketplace based on the same kinds of things other businesses do:  quality, price, timeliness, and above all reputation for actually being fair and just.

Is corruption still possible?  Of course.  Now tell me how government monopolies are immune from corruption.  They're not.  Yet everyone seems to think that market based competition somehow must be or else we should never risk having it.

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