Distributive Justice: A Christian Libertarian Perspective (powerpoint)

Wealth of wealthy


Middle class


Resources of poor


Appendix A: 'Libertopia'?
Minarchist Models
(Ludwig Von Mises, FA Hayek, Robert Nozick, Rose Wilder, Henry Hazlitt)
20th Century History =
Economic Equality Playground
Every kind of socialist program imaginable:
'New Deal' in US
National Socialism in Germany
Communism in Soviet Union
Pol Pot in Cambodia, Moaism in China, etc.
Results:
Most violent century on record (excluding both World Wars); democide leading cause of death
Mass starvation during periods of record production/abundance
Great Depression; newer and more frequent economy-wide boom bust cycles

The Problems with 'Redistributing Wealth'
10. It Destroys Jobs
The wealthy employ the non-wealthy.
Harming employers always harms employees.
11. It Adopts Irrational View of Poverty
Poverty is not simply lack of cash; complex situation.
Cannot thus be fixed by mere redistribution of wealth, even if it were to work.
The Problems with 'Redistributing Wealth'
7. It's expensive and wasteful.
Redistributing wealth is not free! It's very expensive!
'Income' typically does not result in relevant goods/services; taxes are consumed by debt payments, wars, the system itself, etc.
8. It Discourages Productivity and Destroys Wealth
Incentive for profit is lost since it is penalized, which results in decreased wealth-production for all economic classes.
9. It Encourages and Creates Poverty
In addition to above, it subsidizes poverty.
Makes it an attractive option for the middle class.


The Problems with 'Redistributing Wealth'
3. It encourages 'class-warfare.'
Will the wealthy really have more respect or less resentment for the poor? Probably not.
4. It's Incoherent.
Requires monopoly of power and wealth just to function.
5. It's Violent.
Redestributor necessarily uses force, whereas the original monopoly-holders on wealth need not and may not.
6. It's Inefficient.
No adequate means of identifying economic loss.
No means of restitution for losses since redistributor is 'right' and 'just' by definition.
The Problems with 'Redistributing Wealth'
It's fundamentally unethical.
'take' = 'stealing'
Doesn't matter how much/little the victim has!
Justice tends not to emerge from intentional injustice.
It encourages immorality.
It's 'legal,' so it must not be that bad, right?
Redistributors will either be (a) OK with large-scale theft, or (b) not be wise enough to recognize it.
Who is morally qualified to redistribute such mass wealth?

'Redistributing Wealth'



Appendix A: 'Libertopia'?
Anarcho-Capitalist Models
(Murray Rothbard, David Friedman, Thomas Woods, Andrew Napolitano)



Libertarianism
'Principle of Non-Aggression'
It is illegitimate/unethical to initiate force or fraud against a person and/or their legitimately owned property.
Alternatively stated: everyone is free (in a limited, not absolute, sense) to do what they wish so long as they do not violate others' freedoms. (Hence, 'liberty' ism)
In short: violence is wrong.
Unique to libertarianism: This principle applies to governments as much as individuals, churches, businesses, etc.
Important Implications of the Negative/Positive Rights Distinction
Negative rights are naturally more important/fundamental than positive rights
Fulfilling positive rights is immeasurably more complicated and demanding than fulfilling negative rights
Positive rights cannot be consistently enforced without violating (more fundamental) negative rights
Thus (a libertarian conclusion), no government should attempt to do more than enforce negative (natural) rights.
Venezuela:
'Socialismo del siglo XXI'
(This time it will be 'different.')

1998-2007 efforts amounted to:
Seizure of 1,000+ businesses (laying off
off of 18,000 workers and executives)
Public services: healthcare, food, education.
Built 35,000 houses
Price controls on over 400 foods to 'protect the poor'
Redistributed 2.7 million acres of land
Nationalized concrete industry, electricity, rice processing plants, coffee plants, etc.
Infrastructure projects, transportation, public works
61% income tax


Photo Credit: Victor Soares/ABr - Agência Brasil
Results of 'Socialismo del siglo XXI'
Initial Spike (2004-2012)
Highest GDP/capita for South Am. in '05
Poverty fell from 50% to 24% by 2012

Ultimate results (2014-present):
Immediate shortages in every area that
was controlled by the state – food, consumer goods, electricity, etc.
Over 120,000 tons in wasted food in 2010 alone
40% decrease in oil production, despite 600% increase in price
300% increase in debt; $45 billion in debt to China
Billions in debt to private companies (e.g. $3.7 billion to foreign airlines)
Collapsed currency (700% inflation)
Collapsed economy/poverty and starvation (literally out of toilet paper)
Socio-economic chaos (theft, rioting)
Reservations:
Where the State 'Takes Care' of an Oppressed People
Photo Credit: James Nord/Capital Journal
Appendix A: 'Libertopia'?
Non-Aggressive 'Substitution' Model
Steps:
With or without state secession
Abolish all irrelevant government agencies/departments not connected with aggression management, national defense, arbitration, and enforcing contracts and property rights.
Replace all regulations/laws with set of common contract law/property rights
Offer (voluntary) packages based on good/services
Means of all of this might appear in the form of a passed bill/Act, a seceded and re-established state, and could take place on the municipal, state, and/or federal level.



Appendix A: 'Libertopia'?
Non-Aggressive 'Substitution' Model

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Appendix A: 'Libertopia'?
Libertarian Alternatives to the Current Arrangement

Anarcho-capitalism: No 'government.' Only common law (property rights) enforced by private agencies. Private sector can not only fulfill what government traditionally does, but do it better.
Non-Aggressive 'Minarchy': Traditional 'government' made up of elected administrators (a 'republic') that offer rights-protection, national defense, court arbitration and contract enforcement for an agreed price (instead of mandatory taxes) according to common law/property rights. No taxes, no democracy, no legislature, no standing army, no federalism.
Non-Aggressive 'Government': Works within whatever existing system of government by simply abolishing all forms of coercion and offering goods and services, whatever they are, through various packages and prices. (E.g., 'public' pools requiring an annual pass – only everything operates on this voluntary basis)
Conclusion
"Never forget that all state relief for the poor is a blot on the honor of your savior. The fact that the government needs a safety net to catch those who would slip between the cracks of our economic system is evidence that I have failed to do God's work.
The government cannot take the place of Christian charity.



A loving embrace isn't given with food stamps. The care of a community isn't provided with government housing. The face of our Creator can't be seen on a welfare voucher. What the poor need is not another government program; what they need is for Christians like me to honor our savior."
-- Abraham Kuyper (1891)
(Prime Minister of Netherlands; Founding Chair of Theology, Free University, Amsterdam)




The Early Christian Approach
You and I are responsible for serving our local community, not a distant agency or federal department.
Thus, hospitals, orphanages, businesses, non-profits, etc., were often built by Christians regardless of what government was doing.
New Covenant Community is specifically characterized by voluntarism, freedom, mutuality, etc. — in contrast to coercion and force.
Photo Credit: ringofchrist.com
The (Dis)functionality of the State
Because goods and services are forced into consumers' lives instead of provided for by an agreed cost:
There is no limit to losses.
Failure to successfully produce/serve is (often) rewarded, not punished.
Comparable goods/services on the free market are destroyed/decrease because they cannot compete with the artificial prices of what the state provides, bringing society collectively lower, not higher.
Assumptions in Modern Experiments of Statist Economics
The economy can be centrally planned by a wise group of planners/administrators, which will exceed the chaotic and unjust results of an 'unplanned' economy.
Poverty can be eradicated by making it illegal.
Wealth can be created by making it mandatory.

The vast majority of 'economic policies,' 'laws,' and 'regulations,' from minimum wage to Obamacare, etc., assume these principles.
Righting the Rights Discussion
What are 'rights'?
'Normative social bonds' – Wolterstorff, Justice
Language from the side of the oppressed (other side of coin is 'duties' and 'obligation' language)
Grounded in respect for persons
Reflect 'basic human yearnings' – Judge Napolitano
Natural Rights vs. Granted/conferred/political rights
Negative vs. Positive rights
Negative ('freedom'): requires inaction of others
Positive ('benefit'): requires action of others

Non-Violence and Christianity
Peace/non-coercion is characteristic of Jesus' and early church's life and teaching
In contrast to democratic, Roman government of the time
In contrast to Zealots (like Peter, early Paul, etc.); regular revolution attempts
In contrast to Old Covenant/Judaism and it's mandatory tone/structure
New Testament theology pushes us in the direction of peace and peace-making, not legitimizing violence and coercion.
Jesus is 'Prince of Peace,' not 'Prince of…Drones'
Continually challenges efforts to use force (e.g., sword, armies) and the temptation of entering positions of political/state power
Generally does not acknowledge, or at least acknowledges in trivial fashion, state authorities
Inverts hierarchies and power structures; 'servant leadership'
Stresses voluntarism and not acting under compulsion (e.g., in giving/sharing; overall spirit of the church organization, etc.)
'Justice' and 'Injustice'
'Justice' – when people are respected for their worth; their rights are honored.
'Injustice' – people being wronged by others.
Distributive Justice

A Christian Libertarian Perspective
Jamin Hübner, Th.D
2016 William Hal Furr Dialogue
University of Mississippi, Oxford, MS
Rights Gone Wrong
'Everyone has the right to rest and leisure, including reasonable limitation of working hours and periodic holidays with pay.' – UN Declaration on Human Rights, Art. 24
Gay marriage = "fundamental human right" (Obergefell vs. Hodges)
American political rhetoric (right to a "house," "health insurance," etc.)
What's next? My right to a Starbucks quad latte? To a Ferrari every birthday?
In brief: everything recently enjoyed by Americans = "human rights" (= meaninglessness)

Key Terms
'Just'?


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Wealth of wealthy
Middle class
Resources of poor