Bryan Caplan writes that Tyler Cowen’s Cato essay, which I addressed earlier, may be the worst advice ever given to libertarians. To wit:

But what about Tyler’s argument that prosperity and the growth of government are a “package deal”? Again, it’s hard to make sense of this. There’s got to be more to being a “package deal” than the fact that two things both happened. …

With statist preferences, more wealth brings more government. How is that a reason to quit arguing against statist preferences? You could just as easily tell an atheist that more wealth brings more religion — and he’d naturally respond, “It wouldn’t if people knew the truth — and I aim to tell them.”

I wonder, by the way, whether Cowen would accept Michael Tanner’s list of Dubya’s contributions to the welfare state as part of the package deal that libertarians ought to just get over.

(Also posted to Sinners in the Hands of an Angry Blog.)