New York Magazine: “A New Generation of Libertarians”
(From the Intellectual Ammunition section in Volume 19, No. 18 of the Liberator Online. Subscribe here!)
Are cutting-edge companies like Uber and Airbnb creating a new generation of libertarians?
Consider this fascinating snippet from New York Magazine’s interview with legendary Silicon Valley entrepreneur-provocateur (and self-described “McGovern libertarian”) Marc Andreessen, in their October 20, 2014 issue.
New York Magazine: Politicians like Rand Paul are seizing on young people’s embrace of companies like Uber and Lyft and Airbnb that are disrupting heavily regulated industries and saying, “You know, if you’re frustrated about Uber, let me tell you about these other regulations that are terrible.” Are these companies breeding a new generation of libertarians?
Marc Andreessen: I guess I would say the following: If you have been in an Uber car and gotten pulled over and had the car seized out from under the driver when you were like in the middle of a trip that you were otherwise having a good time on, you might be a little bit radicalized. You might all of a sudden think, “Wait a minute, what just happened, and why did it happen?” And then you might discover what the taxi companies did over the last 50 years to wire up city governments and all the corruption that’s taken place. And you might say, “Wait a minute.”
There’s this myth that government regulation is well-intentioned and benign, and implemented properly. That’s the myth. And then when people actually run into this in the real world, they’re, “Oh, f***, I didn’t realize.”
New York Magazine: My mom is renting out my childhood room on Airbnb.
Marc Andreessen: There you go. She’s one of the lawless libertarians.

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James
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