Flat Tax Privatized Parody of a Libertarian Paradise
This libertarian agrees.[The Marshall Plan’s] success involved serious people thinking hard about how to take the existing European societies, taking into account the various stakeholders and the conflicts between them, and figuring out how to fashion a transition to the modern mixed economies they still possess today. It didn’t involve a bunch of Heritage/AEI flunkies cruising in and trying to declare by fiat some sort of flat tax privatized parody of a libertarian paradise.
This libertarian got offended, but I’m not sure why. I wouldn’t call what Atrios wrote “a swipe at libertarians” - the difference between real libertarianism and “parody of a libertarian paradise” seems obvious to me. And the point applies equally to leftists who say “we need a Marshall Plan for…. (schools/poverty/drugs/crime/Africa)” - a lot of them also just want money thrown at their solutions, instead of a well thought-out plan that considers all its consequences.