Reading the "Public Use" clause

[Ilya Somin]

I agree completely.

Ilya Somin



On Fri, 24 Jun 2005, Douglas Laycock wrote:

> I am not a libertarian (although I do think we are way over regulated),
> so I do not speak for libertarians.  But there is a certain coherence to
> saying we should minmize economic regulation and run the social safety
> net solely through direct subsidies to the poor, financed from a simple
> and broad-based tax designed to minimize incentives for taxpayers to
> change their economic behavior.  The coherence is that rigging the
> market to help the poor is generally an inefficient way to go about it,
> and it distorts the behavior of the non-poor more than a broad-based
> tax.
>
>
> Douglas Laycock
> University of Texas Law School
> 727 E. Dean Keeton St.
> Austin, TX  78705
>    512-232-1341 (phone)
>    512-471-6988 (fax)
>
>
> ________________________________
>
> From: conlawprof-bounces at lists.ucla.edu
> [mailto:conlawprof-bounces at lists.ucla.edu] On Behalf Of RJLipkin at aol.com
> Sent: Friday, June 24, 2005 5:50 PM
> To: CONLAWPROF at lists.ucla.edu
> Subject: Re: Reading the "Public Use" clause
>
>
>         It should be noted for whatever relevance it might have to this
> thread but more importantly for its relevance to libertarian theory
> generally that such relatively recent classical libertarians as Ayn
> Rand, Nathaniel Brandon, John Hospers, and, if I remember correctly,
> Robert Nozick reject the idea that redistribution for the benefit of the
> poor is compatible with libertarianism. Now there might be more
> contemporary forms of "libertarianism" that permit the creation of a
> social safety-net through taxation and spending; indeed, some
> libertarians might not wince at embracing a theory whose coherence is
> questionable.  But classical libertarians embrace this theory not only
> for its commitment to liberty, but also for its conceptual coherence.
>
>        As someone who at one time was committed to classical
> libertarianism and who even now still admires the unity and coherence of
> the theory, it's difficult to apprehend how "safety-net
> 'libertarianism'" is a form of libertarianism at all.
>
> Bobby
>
> Robert Justin Lipkin
> Professor of Law
> Widener University School of Law
> Delaware
>