Playing the What-If Game
2nd October 2012
Bryan Caplan calls out the bleeding hearts.
“What if a poor person gets sick, doesn’t have insurance, and can’t get friends, family, or charity to pay for treatment?”
“What if an elderly person gets defrauded out of his entire retirement and the perpetrator vanishes into thin air?”
“What if a child is starving on the street, and no one voluntarily feeds him?”
“What if someone just can’t find a job?”
If you’re a libertarian, you face what-ifs like this all the time. The point, normally, is to make you say, “Tough luck” and look like a monster. What puzzles me, though, is why libertarians rarely ask analogous questions. Like:
“What if Congress passes an unjust law, the President signs it, and the Supreme Court upholds it?”
“What if the government conscripts you to fight in an unjust war, and you die a horrible death?”
“What if a poor person drinks and gambles away his welfare check?”
“What if the government denies you permission to legally work?”
“What if the President decides your ethnicity is a national security risk and puts you in a concentration camp, and the Supreme Court declares his action constitutional?”
“What if a person lives an extremely unhealthy lifestyle, so by the time they’re retired, they’re in constant pain no matter how generous their Medicare coverage is?”
“What happens if a President lies to start a war, and voters don’t particularly care?”
Once you start the what-if game, it’s hard to stop.
October 2nd, 2012 at 15:25
“What happens if a President lies to start a war, and voters don’t particularly care?” Which voters? All the liberals I know–including myself–were opposed. Evidently we weren’t in the majority, however, because they re-elected the bastard.
“What if the President decides your ethnicity is a national security risk and puts you in a concentration camp” Substitute ‘Muslim’ for ‘ethnicity’ and you have the wet-dream of the Jihadist Under Every Bed crowd. Or are they referencing Gitmo…?
October 2nd, 2012 at 23:19
**“What happens if a President lies to start a war, and voters don’t particularly care?” Which voters? All the liberals I know–including myself–were opposed. **
Should have taken that up with your liberal congressman or senator most of whom voted for the war.
October 3rd, 2012 at 06:25
I did. He didn’t return my calls. But that’s beside the point.
The statement was that the voters didn’t particularly care, not that representatives didn’t care.
Pay attention.