Source: The Bleeding Heart Libertarian
by Matt Zwolinski
“The moral parity thesis holds that governments have no rights that are not identical to or derivable from the rights of individuals. In other words, if something is wrong for individuals to do, then it’s wrong for governments to do as well. You can find expressions of the moral parity thesis throughout the libertarian intellectual tradition – going at least as far back as John Locke, and popping up in Bastiat, Rothbard, Huemer, and many others. But while the idea might sound commonsensical, it actually has fairly radical implications. For it implies that almost everything that governments do — from drug criminalization to social welfare to taxation itself — is morally illegitimate. Taken seriously, the moral parity thesis tilts very strongly toward anarchism.” (06/17/24)
https://bleedingheartlibertarian.substack.com/p/libertarianism-and-moral-parity