The Shutdown crisis has given almost all the different focus groups in the giant talk show we call America a chance to have their say. But theres one constituency that hasnt been heard from. And yet this under-reported, under-represented interest group has as much at stake in the Shutdown debate as anybody. Their livelihoods, and even their lives, could depend on keeping government comatose.
Im talking, of course, about the Somali pirates. Three years ago, these small businessmen seemed intent on proving that, in a world of huge, faceless corporations, there was still room for the little guysspecifically the little guys in little boats who zoomed up to giant, faceless corporate cargo ships and demanded a share in the profits in return for not killing the crew.
This was libertarianism in action. Long ago, libertarian theorists suggested that when governments had been destroyed, lighthouses would be run by entrepreneurs who would zoom up to ships benefiting from their light to demand payment. The Somali pirates did these theorists one better. They effectively declared the waters between the Horn of Africa and the coast of Yemen a toll roadafter all, what is this so-called law of the sea but the tragedy of the commons all over again? By privatizing the ocean, the pirates were able to strike a blow at marine communalism, and make a darned good living in the process. As for price, they let the market determine the amount, as in, How much do you got?
Ayn Rand herself would have been overjoyed to see the transformation wrought on the Somali coast. Where once there had been only wretched shacks, mansions were going up, and luxury cars were bouncing over the dusty local roads.
And the money really did trickle down. Even non-pirates cashed in on this booming free market by claiming to be pirates and getting paid for interviews by trusting Western documentary makers.
And then, after years of boom, came the bust. The villain? As always, it was Big Government interference
It looked like the end for the little guys of marine enterprise. But help came from distant comrades. In October 2013, the Tea Party, bastion of Americas libertarians, jammed a 2×4 into the gears of the American governmental juggernaut, bringing it to a screeching halt. Perhaps men like Ted Cruz were not thinking of Somalias brave mariners in small boats, but if they had, they would have recognized allies who shared their values, allies worth helping