Coffee Tastes Like Politics

Comment on: Libertarianism And The Politics Of Everything by Will Wilkinson

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Coffee tastes like politics?  Yuck!  No wonder I don't drink the stuff!

You spend your money on coffee... I do not spend my money on coffee.  We spend our money differently because we have different preferences.  Human diversity is the basis of consumer choice.  Consumer choice is economics.  Economics is the opposite of politics.  Economics is the opportunity cost of politics.

If coffee was in the realm of politics... then one of us would have to get screwed.  Either my money would be spent on coffee... despite the fact that I can't stand the stuff... or your money wouldn't be spent on coffee... despite the fact that you love the stuff.  Would you really want coffee to be in the realm of politics?  No?  Then why in the world would you want anything to be in the realm of politics?  

Politics only exists because people don't understand economics.  If people understood economics then they would clearly see the absolute absurdity of allowing a small group of elected officials to spend everybody's taxes.

The next time that you drink coffee... don't think about politics.  Think about how you're pretty happy with your coffee despite the fact that I'm entirely free not to spend any of my money on coffee.  

To be clear... the free-rider problem is a real problem... so we need the public sector... but we really don't need it to be a political realm.   Libertarianism is the belief that we need to kick most public goods out of the public sector.  Pragmatarianism is the belief that we need to kick politics out of the public sector.