“If necessary (and there would be time) such things as gasoline would have to be rationed in a national or regional crisis.
That doesn’t comply with the rigid, religious tenents of libertarianism, but it is how a body of people must act”
While I cannot deny that there are exigent circumstances when some authority has to step in to ration a resource (like if we were in a castle that was under seige, for instance). More often than not, however, the most efficient way to ration a resource is through market prices. If market prices allow me to eat every day, why can’t they ensure that I have as much gas as anyone else in an emergency?
The problem with central rationing is that they just aren’t as good at it as private enterprises. Why? Because when a gas station owner srews up his calculations, he goes out of business. When a bureaucrat screws up, he can raise his hands and blame the Gods. Every instance of price-fixing in history that I know of resulted in shortages or surpluses (depending upon whether prices were set too low or too high, respectively).
Actually, I lean towards your theoretical statements here. I just refuse to induce as much.