The inter-generational problem
I was very interested to come across this post from Will Wilkinson, on the ‘fear’ of democracy by libertarians, and the various responses to that ‘fear’. It reminded me of a number of things, particularly the strange but wonderful world of Patri Friedman and the Seasteading movement. And I noticed this:
“… I have questions about how well the Friedman plan can scale, as newcomers come to the settled frontier, and as pioneers raise children who do not share the consensus of the initial settlement. Sooner or later the problem of pluralism and moral disagreement will rear its head, and there are liberal and illiberal ways to respond.”
This, to me, is more confirmation of my long-held belief that the major problem of all forms of liberal political organisation inter-generational conflict: you may agree that the current set-up is fair (after all, you created it) but what if your children see it differently? In my view, this is a problem for libertarianism, but also for notions of meritocracy, social democracy, etc.
Those who know me well will know that I love to use films as analogies. The case study here would by M. Night Shyamalan’s The Village - a text-book case of an illiberal response to inter-generational conflict?
