Walter Block's View on the Denier of Suffrage

The following exchange took place between Dr. Walter Block and a student:

Dear Professor Block,

It just occurred to me that the denier of (black, woman or any other) suffrage is a hero from a libertarian standpoint. First, since democratic elections do not establish political legitimacy anyway, whether certain people can vote has no bearing on the legitimacy of the political system. Second, the more people are allowed to vote, the higher the costs of holding elections, and hence more plunder against taxpayers and more violations of the non-aggression principle. So, laws that deny certain people's opportunity to vote are actually good.

Do you agree with my analysis? I must confess that I have only read Defending the Undefendable, but not II or III, so I don't know whether the denier of suffrage has already been defended by you.


Thanks a lot!

Dr. Block responds:

Dear ........

I’m gonna blog this, but, as per usual, Bob will keep your name out of this.

Nice try at a reductio. But, I don’t think it works. Yes, blacks and women should not have been given the right to vote, and, now that they have it, it should be taken away from them (I’m sure if the NYTimes sees this, they’ll stop their quote right there, and ignore what follows). But the same applies to whites and men. No one should “vote” in the fully free society, which I define as anarchistic, in which case “democracy” would not be in operation. Your reasoning for taking away voting rights is impeccable. It should apply to everyone, not any one particular subset of the population.

Best regards,

Walter

Walter E. Block, Ph.D.
Harold E. Wirth Eminent Scholar Endowed Chair and Professor of Economics
Joseph A. Butt, S.J. College of Business                
Loyola University New Orleans
wblock@loyno.edu