Pragmatarianism - Defined

The large bulk of political debate revolves around whether a good should be public or private.  Anarcho-capitalists believe that no goods should be public.  Libertarians believe that at a minimum...national defense, the courts and the police should be public goods.  Liberals believe welfare, education, healthcare, etc should be public goods.  Socialists believe that all goods should be public.  For reference...here's a political spectrum diagram.

Where do you fall on the spectrum?  How certain are you that your position is correct?

Pragmatarianism offers you the opportunity to put your money where your mouth is.  It's basically a contest to see whether the public or the private sector is better at producing a good.  The judges of the contest would be the taxpayers themselves and each time they paid their taxes they would use their taxes to indicate who the winners were.  

Whether you are completely certain, or not at all certain of your political position...pragmatarianism offers a safe way to determine who's right.  It's safe because we would initially pay the exact same amount of taxes.  If the market starts winning then the tax rate will gradually decrease.  If the state starts winning then the tax rate will gradually increase.  If we're at perfect equilibrium then the tax rate will stay exactly the same.

Pragmatarianism isn't my idea...I've been told that a sci-fi story* was written on the topic several years ago.  But in the absence of anybody mentioning the name of this idea I took the liberty of naming it myself.  Pragmatarianism as you might have guessed is pragmatism + libertarianism.  Pragmatism contributes recognition that taxes are most likely necessary to overcome the free-rider problem.  Libertarianism contributes recognition that the invisible hand is the best way to determine whether a good should be produced by the private or public sector...or by both.

On one hand we would have coercion and on the other hand we would have choice.  Taxpayers would not have the freedom to choose whether they pay taxes...but they would have the freedom to directly choose how their taxes are spent.  If you are among the 26.2% of the population that approves of congress then you would still be able to choose to allocate some or all of your taxes to congress.

For additional reading on pragmatarianism see...

• How Pragmatarians "Grow the Party" (libertarianpeacenik.blogspot.com - see comments)
• Nazis versus Libertarians: The Pragmatarian view (markwadsworth.blogspot.com - see comments)
• Pragmatarianism (Libertarian Party Facebook Group)
• Pragmatarianism (debatepolitics.com)
• Pragmatarianism (politicalforum.com)
• Confessions of a Libertarian (politicalforum.com)

* I'd love to read the story but the person couldn't remember the title or author

[Update]  We, The People - Jack C. Haldeman II