[ExI] Is there a potential libertarianism / democracy tension?

[Adrian Tymes]

On Tue, Sep 27, 2011 at 11:21 AM, Dan <dan_ust at yahoo.com> wrote:
> The problem with this view is that if taxation is used to support the "armies, police, courts," then the libertarian principle is violated: force has been initiated. Thus, to be consistent, one has to either accept the principle and not use taxes to support those functions -- any more than one would use taxes to support hospitals, schools, and roads -- or one must deny the principle -- allowing that force can be initiated just as long as the initiation is done for the right reasons. The former position is, in my view, the consistent libertarian one and ends in anarchism, which is, in my view, the correct view to take.

If no one is allowed to initiate force - who, then, prevents anyone from
initiating force?

Common morality/people getting together to stand up to the bullies tends
not to happen that often.  If it did, there wouldn't be dictators, schoolyard
bullies, and similar in all walks of life.  But there are.

If I pay people to protect me, but you are too poor to pay anyone to
protect you, and no one is stopping me from initiating force, then I can
have my goons rob you and no one will stop me.  There are greedy types
who do exactly that, the world over, and throughout history.