I recently discussed whether libertarians are “callous”. In my first post, I said I am a neoclassical liberal, not a libertarian, in part because social justice plays a prominent role in my political philosophy. Let's be clear: this doesn’t make me nicer, kinder, or more loving than a hard-core libertarian or anyone who rejects social justice.

It’s one thing to advocate a political philosophy that includes welfarist norms, or to advocate a set of policy proposals with the intention of promoting welfare. It’s yet another thing to actually be concerned for and care for how well other people do. It’s yet another thing to actually do something that helps to improve anyone’s life. Of course, we all understand these distinctions. Who could deny them? Yet we often talk and act as if they were all the same, as if advocating some moral principle in one’s head or in a journal were the same as getting a bowl of grain to a starving child or helping to sustain an economic system that gets people fed.

Advocacy is often cheap and easy. Donating $50 to Partners in Health costs you $50, but advocating some political position only costs you something if people react negatively to your beliefs. If your peers share your politics and regard those beliefs as "nice", then your beliefs might even benefit you. If all my peers were socialist, advocating socialism would make me seem nice, and it wouldn't cost me $50

Advocacy can also be a form of moral self-indulgence. You want to believe you're a good person, so you advocate some policies in the same of some noble cause, and call it a day. You might not even bother to check whether these policies actually help your cause. (For some perspectives on this point, see here, here, and here.)

David Schmidtz likes to say, “If your main concern is to show your heart is in the right place, your heart is not in the right place.”

In some sense, the premise of this entire blog is absurd. You might think the message of this blog is: "Hey, high liberals! We think people have more extensive basic economic liberties than you, and we like markets more than you, but we care about the poor, just like you!" What we advocate here doesn't show we actually care or actually help, just like what high liberals or others advocate doesn't show they actually care or actually help.