Most libertarians have probably had something like the following conversation:

COM: “Hey, I’ve got this neat idea for how to make the world a better place. It’s called communism! What do you think?”

LIB: “Ugh. We’ve tried that already. Look at Mao’s China. Look at Stalin’s Russia. Haven’t we learned by now that communism, however appealing it might be on paper, inevitably degenerates into tyranny?”

COM: “Oh, sure, Mao and Stalin were awful. But that’s because that wasn’t real communism. Real communism is a much more subtle, sophisticated, and humane idea. We just haven’t tried it yet in the right way.

I also suspect that most libertarians have had something like this conversation:

LIB: “Hey, I’ve got this neat idea for how to make the world a better place. It’s called capitalism! What do you think?”

COM: “Ugh. We’ve tried that already. Look at kind of political and economic power large corporations have in the United States. Look at the bailouts; look at the subsidies. Haven’t we learned by now that capitalism, however appealing it might be on paper, inevitably degenerates into corporatism?”

LIB: “Oh, sure, corporations in America have too much power. But that’s because what we have in America isn’t real capitalism. Real capitalism is a much more subtle, sophisticated, and humane idea. We just haven’t tried it yet in the right way.

My guess is that most libertarians find the “we haven’t tried it” argument utterly unpersuasive in the first case, and spot-on in the second. But why? The structure of the arguments looks almost exactly identical. If it’s a good argument in the first case, why isn’t it just as good in the second? Or if it’s a bad argument in the second case, why isn’t just as bad in the first?

I have some thoughts of my own in answer to these questions, but for now I pose it simply as a question for discussion. Is there a difference between these two arguments? Or have libertarians been guilty of making the same kind of mistake we accuse advocates of communism of making?

(For related thoughts, see my earlier post on Communism, Anarchism, and Counter-examples)