Needlenose

Back in ’03, there was discussion among the proto-Tea Bagger Libertarians about moving to some state like Montana or Wyoming and make it a Libertarian Utopia by using electoral clout to remake the state in Ayn Rand’s image.  Well here we are in 2011, and it looks like Libertopia may have already arrived – firemen in Tennessee refusing to save a burning house unless they get paid.  They don’t want to stop at taking us back to the 1890s, they want to go back to ancient Rome!

The first Roman fire brigade of which we have any substantial history was created by Marcus Licinius Crassus. Marcus Licinius Crassus was born into a wealthy Roman family around the year 115 BC, and acquired an enormous fortune through (in the words of Plutarch) “fire and rapine.” One of his most lucrative schemes took advantage of the fact that Rome had no fire department. Crassus filled this void by creating his own brigade—500 men strong—which rushed to burning buildings at the first cry of alarm. Upon arriving at the scene, however, the fire fighters did nothing while their employer bargained over the price of their services with the distressed property owner. If Crassus could not negotiate a satisfactory price, his men simply let the structure burn to the ground, after which he offered to purchase it for a fraction of its value.

 

*Update 12/7/11* Looks like Tennessee isn’t a true Libertopia, but rather just another Crony Capitalist state.

Stumble it!

Tags: ayn rand, Crassus, firefighters, Libertarians, Tea Party, tennessee

This entry was posted on Tuesday, December 6th, 2011 at 5:02 pm by greenboy and is filed under Reactionary Ideology. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.