ana024: Stroads to Destatalization | Chuck Marohn Interview Breakdown

We expand on some of the more challenging issues raised during our interview with Chuck Marohn of Strong Towns in episode #ana023.

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View full show notes at anarchitecturepodcast.com/ana024.

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Intro

"The thing that we're concerned about is the coercion, not the government per se."

Discussion
Strong Towns - more pragmatic, less ideological
"You don't need to be open-minded when you have all the answers"
What actions can you take? Start at Strong Towns.
Libertarian approaches tend to strengthen towns and cities

The Movie Theater Conundrum revisited
Minarchism - The belief that the government is inherently, throughly, and incorrigibly incompetent and corrupt, and that the one issue most important to them can only be addressed competently and justly by the government
If you want resilient, incremental, bottom-up development, empowering government to pick winners and losers is a bad idea
The revocation clause
Incentivizing cronyism
There's no such thing as "The Will of the People"
A majority can vote with their dollars
Big box infrastructure subsidies create the incentive to privilege downtowns
Whack-a-mole "Ad-hocracy"
What would it take to cut the Federal Register in half?
A lot of things are going to have to change when we transition to the pony-based economy
The hardest thing to do is to repeal a law that has been passed
Infrastructure moves quickly from software (legislation) to hardware. Hardware is hard to undo.
A legal privilege and an infrastructure are the same thing to libertarians

Randall O'Toole's private road holdout
The morality depends on the road ownership structure and agreed obligations of HOA (Home-Owner's Association) members
Unowned roads cause problems

A more diverse range of solutions
HOA's apply the doctrine of private property to a broader area
HOA's are no panacea

De-annexation (AKA secession)
Walking out of Memphis
Reverting to county services
An opportunity to introduce an Opt-in Trust

Destatalization - the best word we've come up with
Leverage the existing government
Convert from a state to a buyer's group
end taxation, implement use fees
end police immunity
allow competing judicial/arbitration services
Sandy Springs, GA - most services contracted out

Puritan society - It's coercive, but it's not government
It's coercion that concerns us, not government per se
The Puritans were the Taliban of their day
Social pressures can be more desirable and effective than government force
Ostracism, boycotts, bad publicity are all valid within Libertarianism

Localism
Less reliance on Wall Street & Washington
Competition between localities incentivizes responsiveness to citizens
Laboratories of legislation
Medieval adjudicators and Common law convergence
"Just a bunch of power hungry morons"

Growth is not the goal
Anti-capitalist opposition to GDP growth targeting
Economic growth isn't a problem
Trading off growth for stability is the problem
Inflationary monetary policy and the boom-bust cycle
Austrian Business Cycle Theory in one sentence
The Skyscraper Curse
The Empire State Building sat vacant during the great depression

Value per Acre
Bubbles can inflate value per acre
'Placemaking" to increase value per acre
Small-scale incremental improvements to increase value per acre
Push vs. Pull development
Push development - if you build it, they will come
Pull development - build it only when it's needed
The traditional development pattern as "Pull" development
Future-proof efficiency vs. long-term resiliency
Future-proof efficiency vs. long-term redundancy and flexibility - staged installation
Value per Acre / Total Cost of Ownership
Overbuilding infrastructure creates an imperative for growth
How Placemaking and public transit can cause gentrification
Low income neighborhoods need efficient means of transit, not a specific form of transit
User fee models align costs with benefits and allow markets to optimize for all users

Conclusion
Leftists who care about the poor shouldn't write off libertarianism
Treat government as a last resort, rather than a first response

Links/Resources
Strong Towns
Chuck Marohn / Randall O'Toole Debate and Chuck's response
MEMPHIS’S U-TURN: HOW THE CITY IS COMMITTING TO A STRONGER FUTURE podcast interivew with Doug McGovern

Randall O'Toole
A Desire Named Streetcar: How Federal Subsidies Encourage Wasteful Local Transit Systems
The Antiplanner blog

Free Thoughts Podcast - Understanding Common Law (with John Hasnas)
Dr Mark Thornton - The Skyscraper Curse
The Whistles Go WOO

Episodes Mentioned
ana023: Strong Towns for Libertarians | Chuck Marohn Interview
Public Space Series
Foundations Series
ana003: Ant-architecture | Anarchic Alternatives