alt Hacker NewsThis reminds me of some past political debates around same-sex marriage, where I encountered some folks claiming government-involvement wasn't really necessary because Free Contract could take care of everything. (This was some years back before the US Libertarian party imploded.)
It was rather frustrating to watch: "You're a huge fan of X but don't know how X works?"
For example, two people can't make a contract between them that gives one the right to visit the other in a hospital, nor the right to make medical-care/power-of-attorney decisions. You also can't contract-away the guardianship (or ownership) of children, etc.
I thought the Libertarian claim was that lawsuits would fix everything. Because after your house burns down and kills you due to no electrical codes being enforced, your family can sue the electrician (who might also be dead due to unrelated reasons) and convince a jury that they didn’t follow undefined best practices and be awarded millions of dollars that the electrician probably never had and certainly won’t pay and that’s better than having you alive anyway. Hooray for the free market.