On Libertarianism and Statecraft, Part VI: Authority and Liberty
By Insula Qui
Author’s note: The main themes of this series will be further expounded upon in my upcoming book Anarcho-Monarchism, which will be available in April.
Introduction
If there is to be a government in a libertarian society, there will eventually be a problem of state formation. Libertarians wish to avoid having a state over them, but here I advocate for giving a degree of sovereignty to a governing entity. The main problem lies within the potential capacity of the managerial government to usurp the property of its constituents and leave that property liable for expropriation and resale. This is an issue no matter whether we default to monarchs, insurance agencies, private defense organizations, or heavily armed individuals.
Markets in Everything
When governance is integrated into the market as all other industries are, there is necessarily a formation of a market for governance. Government is no longer a coercive agency that imposes itself onto a society, but rather is subject to the same economic laws that all other agencies are. The government then must conform to the wishes of those who pay for the government, and is no longer subsidized by a monopoly on violence. If a market government were to not conform to the wishes of those who pay for its governance services, it would find itself out-competed by other governments.
When a government is subject to market forces, it will be affected by those market forces just as every other agency. This will cause the services offered by a government to be less costly and of better quality. By placing the government within the confines of consumer sovereignty, we have fundamentally erased the problem of inefficiency and oppression. By removing the state that subsidizes a government and thus the capacity to aggressively exercise government force, we have removed the negatives of government. The reason why libertarians should be opposed to the state is that it has legitimized aggressive force, not that it provides valuable services.
Within a libertarian society where property rights are absolute, there is no way that a government can even theoretically become tyrannical. The only way in which tyranny can be exercised without the state is through overt warfare, at which point the government, as such, would be dissolved. This perfect confederacy wherein each person is the absolute ruler of their own property can restrain and hold the mandate of the government in check. The management of property can continue on efficient terms without leading to perverse incentives. This is unlike the statist government, which retains its privileged position while being aggressive.
Authorities in Society
Libertarians are still wary of authority; they cannot conceptualize that authority itself may be good for people. But there is plausible benefit that can be gained from following authorities. Any fear of authority ignores the nature of authority itself and supposes that authority means privilege. Within the modern casually totalitarian state, we only see authority at its worst. The people in authority are those who have unbridled control over us. Furthermore, authority is selected for negative traits and thus ends up being held by the worst people in society. However, to frame authority around the modern state is to ignore most of human history.
To explain this concept in purely libertarian economic terms, we have to move from a more metaphysical interpretation of authority to a wholly social one. In a completely spontaneous order with a perfect division of labor, authorities will always arise. The market system will always give those with more expertise control over their areas of expertise, so pure market forces produce authority wherever it is advantageous. When the proper people are placed in charge through market forces, they will be in charge because they ought to be in charge and not because they want to rule over us.
Unlike political selection, markets select for whoever can produce the most utility for the consumer. This means that by doing away with the state, we will ensure that the leaders are also the ones who should lead. People who participate in markets do so while managing their own property or the property that they have been delegated, and they do so for their own benefit. This results in an accumulation of information, as people want to derive the most profits from their own property. Those people will thus have to learn how to maximize the benefit of property.
When people have to learn how to profit most from their own property, they will realize that the best way to profit is to delegate the management of property. People do not have equal talent for managing property, so there is a necessity for a division of labor. However, when people delegate the management of their property to someone else, they need to guarantee that the agent they appoint to manage their property is the most capable manager available. If people allowed unworthy individuals to manage their property, they would then be subject to the losses caused by improper management.
When a society is formed spontaneously and conforms to the interests of those within the society, property would be utilized so as to bring profit. The managers of property would be selected by their demonstrated merit. In this way, as with all other market interactions, the best will rise to the top because they can provide the largest profit for the holders of property. Those most capable of property management will have the most opportunity to manage property.
Authoritarianism Within the Market
This also means that there is nothing inherently wrong with authoritarianism, as authoritarianism simply means obeying authority rather than expressing personal freedom. When those who have authority are the most capable and can provide the most profit, authoritarianism becomes fully compatible with libertarianism. (This is true in a more fundamental way; a private property owner who wields absolute monarchic power over his estate is both perfectly libertarian and perfectly authoritarian.) It is not a matter of authority and liberty, but rather coercion and markets. Giving up the freedom to manage one’s own property in exchange for additional profit is fully compatible with libertarianism.
Furthermore, even when authoritarianism is implemented coercively, it is not necessarily a counter-libertarian force. Within the political realm, more personal freedoms do not always make for a more libertarian society. When the structure of a government is authoritarian, it may be that actual property rights are strengthened if the ruler has such an ideological bent. Even though there may be less representative democracy and no constitution, within the practical sphere of life there may be a more efficient system of property under an authoritarian state. Of course, we would always prefer a perfectly stateless libertarian order in which we can practice efficient statecraft. But when one must choose between systems of government, one should not blindly oppose authoritarianism.
It is not as if libertarianism is expressly threatened by authoritarian or autocratic regimes, although most modern examples thereof tend to be socialistic. Using liberal concepts to frame libertarianism results in a worship of the civil democratic state to the detriment of liberty. Libertarians should support that which gives people the most rights to control their own property, not whatever gives people the ability to cast ballots.
This form of authoritarianism is a distinct social benefit. Provided that the authority is decided by market forces, authority will serve to improve the quality of life for everyone within society. The authority itself is not oppressive, and there is no inherent problem with authority. Authoritarianism is the most efficient organization of society as long as the proper people are in positions of authority and the positions themselves are not coercively maintained. Thus, within the economic and legal framework of libertarianism, all libertarians should favor authoritarianism. There are no conflicting political forces of liberty and authority, and once authority is subjected to the framework of liberty, it is only complementary to liberty. Authoritarianism serves as to enable and enhance libertarianism as a political philosophy. This may seem incredibly counter-intuitive, but what libertarians are fighting is coercion. Whenever authorities refrain from coercing anyone, they are perfectly libertarian.
Democracy and Market Government
Market governance cannot be confused with democracy for many reasons, the most important two of which are that there is no real way to opt out of democracy and the existence of a vote in itself supposedly ties a person to a state. Thus, as long as there are votes, any state action is justified and there is no way to lawfully dissolve the state or exit the state without leaving for another state or carrying out a violent coup. This is contrasted with a libertarian social order where the fundamental presupposition is the individual right to own property. All government can be dissolved when it stops profiting the constituents thereof and no government can force compliance further than what the people employing the government are willing to reinforce.
It may be easy to draw a supposed line between the two types of governance as they both theoretically cater to the interests of the public, but this assessment must be reconsidered. Democracy fundamentally leaves the decisions of the government up to a communist system of representation and decision-making. Each person can give equal input on policy. Market governance, however, has no such aspect and those in charge would most likely not consider the input of those with no qualifications to give input. Rather, they would pursue the best course of action in terms of serving their customers.
The Wrong Approach
Unless one contextualizes libertarianism as a hedonistic view of personal freedom, there can be no objection to authority from a purely libertarian perspective. We might dislike giving up managerial control over property, however, if it produces more efficient results it will be profitable for the great many. This may not be our idea of libertarianism, but it would be the most demonstrably efficient system. Libertarianism cannot be defined as absolute personal control over property. This does not imply that anyone would be forced into authoritarianism, but rather that authoritarianism is a perfectly consistent position within libertarian philosophy.
Private property enables outsourcing management duties; this is a major reason for the existence of free market in the first place. It is not that we need to abolish government; rather, we need to form a binding contract which can replace the non-existent social contract. If we want to create libertarian statecraft, we need to have a formally contracted and socially responsible government. The problem libertarians have with the democratic social contract is that it does not exist. If we are to establish proper governance, we need to establish a reciprocal, enforceable social contract.
Conclusion
These concepts may seem extremely alien for libertarians. We have spent a lot of time trying to create an image of libertarianism as being opposed to social contract theory. How can we properly seek to re-frame libertarianism so as to be compatible with government and authoritarianism? How can we move beyond vacuous personal freedoms into a realm of aristocracy, virtue, and efficiency? In Part VII, I will critique libertarian assumptions that are not based on sound reasoning.
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