Replying to Avatar Mike Brock

Yes. I think methodological individualism is a highly problematic framework that does not capture the realities of the human condition. Now, as a classical liberal, my political philosophy is grounded in individualism. But unlike Austrians and libertarians, I do not completely deny the relevance of collective considerations such as negative externalities and collective action problems. I don’t think, like many libertarians and Austrians do, that thinking that the state has a role to play in these arenas, that it’s a slippery slope to totalitarianism or socialism.
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satoshi jr 2y ago

In terms of a state leading to socialism or totalitarianism: i can agree that above a certajn scale of humans, the incentives seem to tip us to totalitarianism eventually while at smaller scales the natural effects of emotions like shame can keep those in power in check more effectively. I always thought that was the argument for maximizing individual sovereignty to try to keep the scale of interactions as local as possible. If you want a larger state, what do you think the solution is then? I don't know of a historical example where large nations haven't eventually oscillated into some form of overreach.

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