What It Feels Like to Be an Anarcholibertarian

by Don Stacy
Strike The Root
Dec. 17, 2013

One of my favorite libertarian articles is a January 2009 blog post by Professor John Hasnas entitled "What It Feels Like To Be a Libertarian." Hasnas is an Associate Professor of Business at Georgetown's McDonough School of Business, a visiting Associate Professor of Law at Georgetown University Law Center, and Director of the Georgetown Institute for the Study of Market and Ethics. His essay has nothing to do with libertarian bioethics, my usual topic of choice, but the theme he considers has been so rarely addressed that I thought I should bring his tract to the attention of the libertarian community.

In this post, Professor Hasnas compares the internal life of the libertarian to the internal life of Cassandra, the Greek mythological heroine. To refresh the reader's memory, Cassandra was the most beautiful daughter of King Priam and Queen Hecuba of Troy. Apollo, the sun god, offered Cassandra the gift of prophecy in exchange for her love. Cassandra accepted the proposal, but then betrayed Apollo by refusing his advances after she had already received the prophetic gift. Apollo retaliated by cursing Cassandra, proclaiming that her prophecies would be accurate but disbelieved by all.

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