Things that We Would Like to Take for Granted: Minimum Standards for the Legal Framework of a Free and Democratic Society

by Joseph William Singer

In his satirical novel Jennifer Government, Max Barry describes a libertarian dystopia where deregulation has run amok.1 In Barry’s frightening portrait of the near future, the government has been privatized and people get the police protection for which they are willing and able to pay. Written contracts are enforced to the letter—no matter what they say. There are no limits on freedom of contract, and contracting parties are free to hire either private or public agents to enforce the terms of those contracts. The book begins when the hero signs an employment contract without reading it. That contract was dreamed up by the marketing department of his company, which believes that the company could sell more sneakers if consumers thought the sneakers were so cool that people were willing to kill— literally—to get a pair. The marketers drum up demand for the sneakers but severely limit the supply until their potential customers are chomping at the bit. They then dupe the hapless hero into signing a contract that requires him to kill a few customers to increase demand for the shoes even further. Because our hero has already signed the contract, he is bound by its penalties if he fails to perform—penalties so severe that they make Shylock look generous by comparison.

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