Matt Yglesias wonders why no libertarians save the Ayn Rand institute are up in arms about the government prviding aid to the victims of the tsunami.
My answer - the amount of money involved is very small, and the cause for which it is being spent is rather benign and is an isolated, unusual occurrence. Even if it is wrong for the government to spend money on aid on principle, sometimes you have to choose your battles. It doesn't mean that libertarians have abandoned their principles, just that we have more pressing issues to focus on that aren't as bad PR.
Sure, on some level you should believe in your principles even in extreme or minor situations, but with limited time and political capital, sometimes it's better to focus on things that are big and that you have more of a chance of convincing people on. If there were no war in Iraq, threatening to expand, no abusive criminal justice system that is more concerned with convictions than with justice, no indirectly government-imposed quotas and destructive war on drugs or any of those other truly destructive impositions of the government, then there is no question that we should be fighting to end state-sponsored aid and to privatize relief efforts for things such as the tsunami. But for right now, this is simply not the best battle to fight.
That is all.
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