Healthcare seems to be a particularly thorny problem when advocating for free markets. Many people seem to be so dedicated to the notion that markets could not possibly provide quality assurance and low prices in healthcare that they’re much more eager to institute government controls in this area than in others.
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Contrary to much popular opinion, strong property rights help the poor far more than the wealthy.
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Stealing from the Poor to Give to the Rich: An Anti-Robin Hood Story
There is no one clear libertarian position on the Fourteenth Amendment. It has been used in troublesome ways, but it also seems to have been intended to increase individual liberty. Also, there are questions as to whether it was properly ratified.
It's sometimes claimed, by conservatives and others, that the government would not classify something if it was not essential to national security, and especially would not classify something merely in order to avoid embarrassment. In other words, that the claim to state secrets would not be abused.
“Five decades later, researchers uncovered the report, and discovered the claim was a lie. The report had no military secrets and instead showed that government negligence caused the crash.”
Much-Abused 'State Secrets Privilege' Under Fire in Congress
The minimum wage is a frustrating topic for libertarians and conservatives, because it should be just about the easiest sell of any economic policy position they hold. Welfare payments, food stamps, etc., do in fact make the lives of the poor better, at least in a facile, short-term way. Safety regulations often do make products safer than if the safety procedures were not followed, even if the market would do a much better job. And roads are very useful to drive on, regardless of whether government is required to build them. But the minimum wage is just harmful to those it is intended to help. It has essentially no redeeming features, except for the benefit it provides for the very small number of people who see their wages go up without a corresponding decrease in hours, and those wealthier people who now decide that getting a job is better than whatever they were doing before. But for those people it’s intended to help—minorities, the young, and the poor—it’s unambiguously bad. And yet it seems impossible to convince people of this. If anyone actually manages it, please tell us how in the comments. Meanwhile, here are some hopefully-useful resources on the subject.
Milton Friedman - Minimum wage is the most anti-negro law - YouTube
Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle is a popular book for discrediting libertarian ideas. Here are some resources debunking or addressing the ideas in that book.
