tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8897997766931633186.post7890645384995608087..comments2024-02-14T03:21:37.506-05:00Comments on Monetary Freedom: Libertarian NostalgiaBill Woolseyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06330232724290161369noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8897997766931633186.post-1337489578320547292010-04-14T15:16:46.924-04:002010-04-14T15:16:46.924-04:00No one should be surprised that I don't genera...<em>No one should be surprised that I don't generally argue that we should return to the glorius era of monetary freedom that existed before the Federal Reserve Act. Like most advocates of free banking, I consider U.S. banking regulations in the pre-Fed era to be a disaster.</em><br /><br />To be clear how about some era before that like the Scottish free banking era.JWOhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00004178958481335795noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8897997766931633186.post-85256593347608786702010-04-10T12:12:59.401-04:002010-04-10T12:12:59.401-04:00"[M]y political vision starts at the status q..."[M]y political vision starts at the status quo and focuses on reforms that expand individual liberty by shrinking the size and scope of government." Fine; but don't ignore history, which gives us some evidence about what sorts of political regime have been found acceptable, as well as about how well they have worked. In particular, if the United States did have a more libertarian past it would be worth investigating how public support for liberty has been eroded since then. (It could also be used as a rhetorical stick with which to beat one's anti-libertarian political opponents, since many in the audience suffer from nostalgia.)<br /><br />It does rather look as though straight white men had more liberty in 19-century America than they do now. (Admittedly this judgment involves difficult trade-offs.) Our political superiority over our forebears then would lie in our having expanded the circle of those who enjoy whatever liberty is available, to include non-whites, women, and homosexuals. (The limits may already have been reached; for example, it may be that children and lower animals will never be included.) But the liberty available to those in the favored circle seems to have contracted. Perhaps a study of the past will suggest ways of reversing *that* trend (without reversing the widening of the circle).<br /><br />"I consider U.S. banking regulations in the pre-Fed era to be a disaster." This is a topic about which I would be glad to learn more. I presume that regulations changed greatly over the years from 1783 to 1913, and that early on they were mostly instituted by the states rather than by the federal government. Were they better at first (the eighteenth century), gradually growing worse?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com