The history of South Africa also shows
how government uses it coercive power to prevent minority populations
from gaining equality. Basically any place that black populations
were able to adjust to the cultural changes brought about by white
imperialists the government was forced to pass laws which prevented
them from competing on an equal basis. These laws, which ultimately became known at apartheid, took various forms
such as land confiscation and bans on the purchase of land. Before
these "reforms" groups of black farmers were actually doing quite
well in some areas competing against their white neighbors.
And here at home it was the Jim Crow laws that institutionalized racism. A rational business person knows that limiting your market is bad for business. Only when all businesses have to follow the same limits can a new supplier be prevented from competing with the bigots.
So in summary all those evils that Laura sees as occurring in a libertarian society, libertarians see as a direct result of government using its power of initiatory force. The goal of libertarianism is thus to limit as much as possible the areas in which that force can be applied. To some that means staying within the literal confines of the Constitution. The more extreme seek the complete removal of that force and therefore support anarchy in it's literal meaning -- the absence of government.
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