The most evil and harmful state laws, institutions, and policies are, I believe:
- war;
- the Fed/central banking/fiat money;
- government schools;
- taxation;
- the drug war;
- intellectual property (patent and copyright).
You could also mention the regulatory state and the entitlement state, but the above makes a pretty good listing of the top things we libertarians would get rid of if we could.
How are we doing on these issues? I spoke with some radical libertarian friends—it’s fun musing as to which one you would abolish first, if you could—and here is the basic take:
- war: not great, but they are getting harder for modern debt-laden welfare-states to afford;
- the Fed/central banking/fiat money: not great, but bitcoin could pose a threat;
- government schools: not great, but at least, in the US, homeschooling and private schools are legal;
- taxation: not great, and getting worse, but there seems to be a limit to the level of taxes the state can get away with imposing on the economy;
- the drug war: still horrible, but significant inroads have been made in the last election, with marijuana being legalized on a state-law basis by Washington and Colorado; and
- intellectual property: getting more and more out of hand, but being seen as more and more ridiculous and unjust. Copyright is getting easier to evade with various technologies like encryption and bit torrent; and patents are being seen more and more as ridiculous and protectionist.
Overall, the biggest cause for hope is probably the recent progress made in the insane, evil war on drugs.
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