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Last Sunday, I was invited to appear as a guest on “Anarchy Time,” an Internet Radio talk show. Three guesses as to the topic. I had a great time and look forward to future appearances, but I’d like to revisit the particular topic that a caller pointed this episode toward.

The caller claimed that it’s not necessary to eliminate the state because those who desire freedom can get what they want by doing what he’s done: Filing paperwork declaring one’s self a “sovereign,” after which one is immune to those depredations of the federal government which violate natural law. The details were kind of fuzzy, but that doesn’t really matter — the idea is of a general type which is worth discussing.

The general type I’m speaking of is the “magic word” or “secret formula” scheme, under which adherents claim that government can successfully be held to a particular interpretation of laws which restrains its powers to those which are “legitimate.”

In the Wall Street Journal editorial “How Milton Friedman Saved Chile,” Bret Stephens credits Milton Friedman’s collaboration with Augusto Pinochet for saving the lives of thousands of Chileans who otherwise would have perished in the recent earthquake. He argues that the economic policies of Friedman and the Chicago Boys are why Chile had sufficient wealth for quality building construction.

“The poorer the country, the likelier people are to scrimp on rebar, or use poor quality concrete, or lie about compliance.”

That statement is true, but the problem with Stephens’ argument is that he does not look at the other side of history.  Most obviously, Pinochet’s policies did not help those who were killed or tortured by his regime. It also has not been seen what kind of wealth could have been created without a parasite like Pinochet ruling the country.

But what kind of responsibility does Friedman bear for what actually happened? Stephens says that Friedman once “wryly noted that he had given communist dictatorships the same advice he gave Pinochet, without raising leftist hackles.”

It’s March and the year ends with a zero, so if you’re an American, watch your mailbox. You’ll be getting an envelope from Uncle Sam some time soon.

In that envelope you’ll find a form demanding answers to ten questions, on pain of a $100 fine for refusal to answer or $500 for answering falsely.

Or maybe it’s $5,000 for refusing to answer “any of the questions” — the Census Bureau would like you to think so, anyway.

If you believe that government can do anything without a) screwing it up, or b) screwing you over, the census is proof positive that you’re mistaken. Government can’t even count..

The purpose of the census, as originally authorized in the US Constitution, is simple: To count heads for the purpose of apportioning congressional districts based on how many people live where. That’s it. That’s all.

C4SS Senior News Analyst Thomas L. Knapp is releasing his popular short e-book “Writing the Libertarian Op-Ed” under a Creative Commons license, freeing it from the copyright bondage that has encumbered it for far to long. Pending a new edition without the 2002 vintage copyright notice, you can confirm it’s now CC-licensed here. The original edition is now available for download from C4SS.

DOWNLOAD: Writing the Libertarian Op-Ed by Thomas L. Knapp