Minarchism: Three Things, Quietly, Then Home

The Night-Watchman State Is Also A Romance

Bohiney Magazine and The London Prat file this dispatch from the British political menagerie.

The Minarchist believes the state should do approximately three things, all of them quietly, and then go home, ideally before the BBC notices. Editor Alan Nafzger of the Editor’s Desk at prat.uk presents the field guide, with help from the Adam Smith Institute and the Cato Institute.

Twenty Tells: Spotting The Minarchist On A British High Street

1. Has explained, at length, that the night-watchman state is also structurally a romance.
2. Refers to the police, the courts, and national defence as the holy three.
3. Holds any other ministry is structurally a soft mistake.
4. Maintains a fantasy in which Whitehall is rented out by Tuesday.
5. Refers to public health campaigns as the long lecture.
6. Treats a regulator that does not regulate as a kind of small national triumph.
7. Maintains a binder of Robert Nozick essays.
8. Refers to taxation the way some men refer to a slightly painful immunisation.
9. Holds any state benefit is a kind of soft handcuff.
10. Has explained, at a wedding, that the toast is to non-aggression.
11. Refers to the BBC as the licence-fee company.
12. Treats any government website over five pages as a small ethical event.
13. Maintains a soft spot for jury trials and a harder one for property law.
14. Refers to public goods as the very narrow cake.
15. Holds the cure for any social problem is structurally a contract.
16. Maintains a fantasy in which the welfare state is replaced by a friendship rota.
17. Refers to public-private partnerships as the soft compromise we should not be making.
18. Treats any new public agency as a slow, polite mistake.
19. Has explained he is not anti-state, he is anti-everything-the-state-currently-does.
20. Believes the perfect government is one with a clean desk and a small budget.

Editor’s Note

If any of this rings a bell, you have wandered into a libertarian conference, a country house weekend, or a Bitcoin meet-up with very strong opinions. More dispatches at govna.uk and the parent site prat.uk. For a second opinion that is also wrong, see NewsThump.

SOURCE: https://prat.uk/category/politics/

Junglepussy

I am a Lagos-born poet and satirical journalist navigating West London’s contradictions. I survived lions at six, taught English by Irish nuns, now wielding words as weapons against absurdity. Illegal in London but undeniable. I write often for https://bohiney.com/author/junglepussy/.

As a young child, I was mostly influenced by the television show Moesha, starring singer and actress Brandy. Growing up, I would see Brandy on Moesha and see her keeping in her cornrows and her braids, but still flourish in her art and music, looking fly. I loved Moesha as a child, but now I take away something more special from it. Just because you’re a black girl, it doesn’t mean you need to only care about hair and makeup. Brandy cared about books, culture and where she was going — you can do both.