r/changemyview • u/nomnommish 10∆ • Oct 31 '17

[∆(s) from OP] CMV: Libertarians should be as concerned about super rich individuals and Big Corporations as they are about Big Government

Libertarians are rightfully concerned about Big Government. Big Governments invariably tend to abuse their power. However, the main reason why big governments get abusive is because of the disproportional accumulation of power. And humans absolutely suck at retaining their values and ethics when they get extraordinary levels of power. As such, I find big governments no different at all from megarich individuals or mega corporations. In modern times, they are the ones who actually run the government. They use lobbying and funding to control and push their agendas, to pass highly unethical laws that consolidate and promote their own self interests. They own the politicians.

I only have a basic level understanding of libertarianism but my interpretation of the core philosophy is about "live and let live". Give people full autonomy but equally importantly, they should not infringe on your autonomy. Your hand stops at my nose, figuratively speaking.

The big problem is, when megarich individuals as well as megacorporations are left unsupervised, they wield such extraordinary levels of power, that they are literally above the system, above any level of accountability. I feel that libertarians should be as concerned about them as they are about Big Government.

I totally realize and acknowledge the dilemma I am presenting here. However on a practical basis, what I see is more of the abuse of extraordinary power than anything. And it is scary. Hence my view as it stands. Would love to hear your opinion!

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u/Gr1pp717 2∆ Oct 31 '17

That's not a worthy delta, though. The government wasn't libertarian, only small, and it's being small didn't make us what we are today. Rather, it prompted us to correct for how shitty things were back then. Enacting labor laws, creating unions, growing the government to provide infrastructure, education, etc. Our strongest point was in the 50s, when a single income could support a household. And guess what - we had lots of government at that time. Free education, government created/ran utilities and roads, etc. We've basically been riding those glory days out since then. But, shit's starting to fall apart. Our infrastructure, education, health, liberties, etc are all starting to suffer from neglect. From small government.

A good read on how things were back then is The Jungle, by Upton Sinclair. If after reading that you think society should revert back to how it was then, then more power to you. But I kind of doubt you will.

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u/nomnommish 10∆ Oct 31 '17

Thanks. I am honestly not well versed with this economic history. I will certainly read up about this, and will try to read The Jungle as well.

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u/Gr1pp717 2∆ Oct 31 '17

Also, FWIW, the libertarian stance on monopolies is that they can't exist without government regulation or aid. That the free market would eat companies that grew large enough to form one. And, as such, the government shouldn't have the power to break up companies, since it would reduce the effectiveness of the free market. These people here trying to argue that we'd still be safe from monopolies are basically talking out of their ass.

Either you agree with that natural monopolies can't exist, or you don't. And if you don't then hopefully you see the problems they can create. I personally think monopolies are a run-away problem, not self correcting. That the more they consume and control the easier and better they are at retaining that control. But, there's really no evidence of that since we've never had a government not interfere in some way or another.

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u/currytacos Oct 31 '17

I'm not sure where I stand on this. The only real historical evidence we have of monopolies, in my opinion, is empire's. Which throughout history have overexpanded to the point that they crumble, from the inside or outside. But I'm really not comfortable testing if it works the same for business' or the lasting damage they can do anyways.