That is the title of my most recent work-in-progress, available here via SSRN. Among other things, my paper surveys the greatest and largest-scale “taking” in the history of the United States: the taking of labor of non-essential workers during the Wuhan coronavirus pandemic. In brief, many State and local governments across the U.S. enacted emergency lockdown orders that deprived “non-essential” workers of their self-ownership rights by preventing them from making a living. Yet, aside from ad hoc stimulus checks and the payment of fraud-ridden and inefficient unemployment benefits, not a single one of these workers received any “just compensation” as required by the Takings Clause of the Constitution. Meanwhile, billionaires avoid paying their fair share of taxes …
OK, I sort of get this and sort-of even appreciate the point you’re making about a “taking” of these everyday people’s livelihoods. But would any kind of libertariansim ever have prevented this? In an emergency, it is obvious to call people on “the front lines” to serve. Would you prefer these front-line workers stay home in the name of their personal liberty and have people die in the ICUs? Do we ALL not “sign up” for some unanticipated role in life, just because we are human beings?
Hey, I tried!!!