Libertarians sure know how to pick ‘em. First there was the 2006 Ludwig Von Misus institute report on Somalia, “Stateless in Somalia and Loving it”, which detailed just how Adam Smith’s invisible hand is working it’s magic in prosperous and pleasant East African nation. Of course, the US State Department had a different view of what happens when the influence of government is removed (via Mike Tomasky’s Guardian Blog):

The country’s poor human rights situation deteriorated further during the year, exacerbated by the absence of effective governance institutions and rule of law, the widespread availability of small arms and light weapons, and ongoing conflicts… Human rights abuses included unlawful and politically motivated killings; kidnapping, torture, rape, and beatings; official impunity; harsh and life-threatening prison conditions; and arbitrary arrest and detention.

In part due to the absence of functioning institutions, the perpetrators of human rights abuses were rarely punished. Denial of fair trial and limited privacy rights were problems, and there were restrictions on freedoms of speech, press, assembly, association, religion, and movement.

The Parallax Brief knows all three of his readers would jump at the chance to escape the dead hand of government in socialist hell-hole Britain for the sunnier climes of Somalia, where they would be free to be beaten, kidnapped, raped, tortured or killed without the nefarious agents of state bureaucracy interfering.

Or is it that Libertarians believe that Somalians clearly don’t value liberty and justice, because they haven’t set a price for the private sector to provide those goods?

Whatever the reasons, the bat-shit crazy libertarian examples of the ’successes’ of libertarian policy continued today with the Adam Smith Institute blog offering a glowing recommendation of Georgia as just the place that “libertarians could move to” if “Britain is indeed going to the dogs”.

“Their flat-rate income tax – initially set at 25% – was cut to 20% in response to the economic downturn, and is set to be further reduced to 15% by 2013. The tax on interest and dividends will be phased out by 2012. VAT is 18%. Corporation tax is 15%,” gushes blog editor Tom Clougherty. “What’s more, it looks as though the government will soon pass into law one of the best pieces of legislation I’ve ever seen: The Liberty Act. This act, which is going to be incorporated into the Georgian Constitution, caps government expenditure at 30% of GDP, budget deficits at 3% of GDP, and public debt at 60% of GDP.”

Ah, yes, the Georgian government. At first the Parallax Brief thought that the Somalian example was an aberration.  But it seems that many high profile libertarians and libertarian organizations place far greater import on economic liberty than personal. Somalia was great because of its free telecom markets — and damn the fact it severely curtailed what should be core values for any self-respecting libertarian: freedom of speech speech, press, assembly, association, religion, and movement.

Yet here is the phenomenon again. To be sure, Georgia has low-ish, flat taxes, a sparse social safetly net and has passed all kinds of laws to restrict regulation of the markets — all of which which probably makes the economic side of the country sound great to a libertarian. But the idea that Mikheil Saakashvili’s government is remotely democratic or in favour of genuine liberty is preposterous. (Although the Parallax Brief does understand that this is a myth perpetrated in the western media.)

In September 2007, Georgians, for some bizarre reason the Parallax Brief can’t quite put his finger on, began protesting at the libertarian policies of Saakashvilli’s government, which had caused mass unemployment, severe privations among even those who were employed, and, among other policies, removed utility subsidies for all. Instead of permitting the protests as the inalienable right of his citizens, the president ruthlessly crushed them with riot police using rubbler bullets while shutting down pro-opposition television stations. The subsequent elections were savaged by the OECD, whose monitors reported ballot box stuffing, vote counting and tabulation which did not match procedures, turnout in certain areas considerably higher than the national average, as well as courts which responded to complaints by stretching “the law beyond reasonable interpretation and without regard to its spirit in favour of the ruling party candidate”. Further, courts “did not fully and adequately consider and investigate a considerable number of complaints regarding irregularities, some of which were of a serious nature. A large number of complaints were also ruled inadmissible or dismissed on technical grounds.”

Yes, Georgia: home of the free.

To be fair to Mr Clougherty, he did mention that a small problem might be the looming presence of Russia. But he needent worry! He’ll be happy to know that things will only get better when Putin sends the T90s into Tbilisi:  Russia has flat taxes, too — and set at an even more libertarian 13%.

Happy days!