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… is from page 188 of Tom Palmer’s Summer 1998 Critical Review article titled “What’s Not Wrong with Libertarianism [2],” as this paper is reprinted in Tom’s superb 2009 book, Realizing Freedom [3]:
So evaluation of consequences does matter, but it matters at the level of justifying a general system of rights. Precisely because of the limitations of human knowledge that [Jeffrey] Friedman acknowledges were the downfall of socialism, we cannot normally invoke consequentialism on a case-by-case basis. That is, after all, as Hume (and more recently, Hayek) so strongly emphasized, the justification for rules.
DBx: Yes.
It’s equal parts distressing and appalling how easily so many rules were – and continue to be – utterly disregarded amidst the hysteria over Covid-19.
…..
Pictured above is Gretchen Whitmer, the tyrant now wielding dictatorial powers in Michigan.