I’m not sure if Philip Bobbitt is malicious, mentally deranged, or merely foolish. To wit, this review of his latest book:

“What’s needed is a constitutional order that takes its structural cues from multinational corporations and nongovernmental organizations, relying ‘less on law and regulation and more on market incentives’ to expand people’s options. Such a market state keeps its finger on the pulse of consumer demand, advocates trade liberalization, is prone to the privatization of public works and ‘will outsource many functions.’ In the seminar rooms of political science departments this change is referred to as ‘neoliberalism (on the streets, it is known as ‘globalization’) — and Bobbitt, who is a geopolitical realist, believes we have no choice but to embrace it.”

Riiiiight. Let’s define our rights and responsibilities in terms of consumerist ideals and the flavor of the month. I’m not sure if I should laugh or scream. If this is anarcho-capitalism, this is where libertarianism and I part company. I’m reminded of a line in the film Network.

“There are no nations! There are no peoples! There are no Russians. There are no Arabs! There are no third worlds! There is no West! There is only one holistic system of systems, one vast and immane, interwoven, interacting, multi-variate, multi-national dominion of dollars! petro-dollars, electro-dollars, multi-dollars!, Reichmarks, rubles, rin, pounds and shekels! It is the international system of currency that determines the totality of life on this planet! That is the natural order of things today! That is the atomic, subatomic and galactic structure of things today!”

God help us all if Arthur Jensen is right.