How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #7
"Free hospitals—aren't any in Luna. Medical insurance—we have that but apparently not what you mean by it. If a person wants insurance, he goes to a bookie and works out a bet. You can hedge anything, for a price. I don't hedge my health, I'm healthy. Or was till I came here. We have a public library, one Carnegie Foundation started with a few book films. It gets along by charging fees. Public roads. I suppose that would be our tubes. But they are no more free than air is free." (17.80)
Let's just lay all the cards on the table: Everything on Luna is traded through free enterprise—roads, insurance, schools, libraries, nothing exists through social and public services. The idea is that you should get to decide what you do and do not pay for, instead of the government. As Mannie says, he isn't sick, so why should be pay for social health?
Quote #8
"Convince them that this new setup [is] to their advantage—emphasize benefits, free schools, free hospitals, free this and that—details later but an everywhere government just like on Terra. Taxes starting low and handled painlessly by automatic checkoff and through kickback revenues from grain shipments." (19.52)
The Chairman offers the people of Luna all the amenities that they pay for currently as social services. But the word "free" in the quote above is misleading. Taxes would have to be collected to pay for the social services, which is not the same thing as free. TANSTAAFL, it seems.
Quote #9
"You have put your finger on the dilemma of all government—and the reason I am an anarchist. The power to tax, once conceded, has no limits; it contains until it destroys. […]. It may not be possible to do away with government—sometimes I think that government is an inescapable disease of human beings. But it may be possible to keep it small and started and inoffensive—[…]." (22.52)
The Moon is a Harsh Mistress may seem like it has pie in the sky, er, space dreams. Can you realistically imagine a world operating without any governments? And the novel, through Prof, recognizes this, offering this more down to earth alternative.