Frequent commenter Monte, who commented on my blog post titled “Mind Your Own Business!”, asked “Do Libertarians believe that government should play a role in setting limits on self-ownership?”
I didn’t answer in the comments because I think the question is of more-general interest, and only a small percent of readers read the comments.
I’ll start by pointing out 2 important distinctions.
First, the word “Libertarian” with an “L” is usually used to refer to people who are members of the Libertarian Party, whether here or in Canada or in other countries with Libertarian Parties. I haven’t been a member of the Libertarian Party for at least 3 decades. So I’ll answer as if Monte asked about small “l” libertarians.
Second, I’m only one libertarian and so I’ll answer about my views. Other libertarians may have other views, although I think there’s a large amount of agreement.
Now I’ll answer the question Monte asked as if he were asking my view.
The basic answer is No, for all adults of sound mind. The exceptions are for children and for adults who are not of sound mind.
If you say, “Wait a minute; you haven’t completely answered,” you’re right.
Specifically, what’s the age limit for defining a child? My answer is 18, but I realize that that’s arbitrary. I remember David Friedman being asked this question after a speech. He pointed out that the answer “Someone is not a child if he/she can make mature decisions” is not a good answer. He noted that some people make a lot of bad decisions when they’re 30 and others make mainly good decisions when they’re 14.
Let’s say that we settle on the age 18. What happens when, say, a 14-year-old wants to get the surgery to transition to a different gender? The surgery is pretty much irreversible. Should that 14-year-old be able to choose it? I say no. Will that mean that there will be 18-year-olds who missed their chance to get the surgery when they were 14 and regret that? Yes. But it also means that many people will be glad at age 18 that they didn’t get the surgery at age 14.
If you agree with me that 18 is the cutoff, there’s still the issue, for those under age 18, of who gets to decide for the child. Chase Oliver, the Libertarian Party’s candidate for president in 2024, believed that the parents ought to be able to decide. I’m not sure about that. The question I ask people who agree with Oliver is: “If a 14-year-old wants to ingest heroin or meth, and the parents think it’s alright, should they be able to allow the child to do so?” After all, surgery for gender transition is way less reversible, typically, than the effects of heroin.
How about not of sound mind? Would someone with an IQ of 40 be of sound mind? I think not. But you can see that this is arbitrary. Would I have a good argument against someone who said the cutoff for IQ should be 30? 50? No, I don’t.
