Frequent commentator Monte, who commented on my blog post entitled “Mind Your Business!”, Asked: “Give Libertarians believe that the government should play a role in setting limits for self-property?”
I did not answer in the responses because I think the question is from Meer-General, and only a small percentage of the readers reads the comments.
I will start by pointing to 2 important awards.
Firstly, the word ‘libertarian’ with an ‘l’ is usually used to refer to people who are members of the Libertarian Party, here or in Canada or in other countries with libertarian parties. I have not been a member of the Libertarian Party for at least 3 decades. So I will answer as if Monte asked for small “l” libertarians.
Secondly, I am only one libertarian and so I will answer my views. Other libertarians may have different views, although I think there is a large amount of agreement.
Now I will answer the question that Monte has asked as if he were asking my opinion.
The basic answer is no, for all adults of Sound Mind. The exceptions are for children and for adults who are not of common sense.
If you say: “Wait a minute; you have not answered completely”, you are right.
What is the age limit in particular for defining a child? My answer is 18, but I realize that it is random. I remember that David Friedman was asked this question after a speech. He pointed out that the answer “someone is not a child if he/she can make adult decisions” is not a good answer. He noted that some people make a lot of bad decisions when they are 30 and others mainly make good decisions when they are 14.
Let’s say we are settling at the age of 18. What happens if, say, a 14-year-old wants to transfer the operation to another genus? The operation is virtually irreversible. Should that 14-year-old choose it? I say no. Will that mean that there will be 18-year-olds who have missed their chance to get the operation when they were 14 and regret it? Yes. But it also means that many people at the age of 18 will be happy that they have not received the operation at the age of 14.
If you agree with me that 18 is the cutoff, there is still the problem, for those under the age of 18, whose child may decide for the child. Chase Oliver, the candidate of the Libertarian Party for President in 2024, was of the opinion that the parents should be able to decide. I’m not sure about that. The question I ask that people who agree with Oliver is: “If a 14-year-old heroin or meth wants to take, and the parents think it’s good, should they then allow the child to do this?” After all, the operation for sexual transition is much less reversible, mostly, than the effects of heroin.
What about not a healthy mind? Would anyone with an IQ of 40 be a common sense? I don’t think. But you can see that this is random. Would I have a good argument to someone who said the Cutoff should be for IQ 30? 50? No, I don’t do that.