Libertarian, is ‘em?
Huck threw out a challenge contending that there really are no libertarians, essentially that libs should just pick a side and be done with it, and this sparked some debate on NIT. Recognizing first of all that he was mostly just trying to stir up the hornets, I’m still going to have to disagree — sort of.
Right off the bat we need to throw out the silly “libertarian” vs “Libertarian” convention. Both versions have been used to mean different things and alternately the same thing, and besides which, there are more than two states in play. I think we need to look at multiple “levels” of libertarian, so we’re going to need an array.
- libertarian[0]
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At the zero level are those who usually like to say “I’m small-l libertarian and a big R-Republican” (which of course confuses me — are they not also small-r republicans, don’t they believe in the republican form of government?). Generally these are folks who were raised Republican but learned some social tolerance along the way (though they still nurse an inexplicable fear of the ACLU). Maybe they’ve read some Ayn Rand, and the scholars among them have probably read some Hayek or Mises, or may even be full blown Austrian school economists.
I start them at zero, rather than one, mostly because that’s just what programmers do. But there is some double meaning there, as I wonder just how much value they add to the libertarian movement. I mean if you’re willing to vote for warmongers and religious nutcases just to get an extra hundred bucks in your tax refund… still I suppose one must crawl before walking.
Theoretically this category would also include those who were raised as Democrats, but don’t like giving up half their income to the government any more than conservatives. However while I’m sure there are many such people out there, they don’t generally refer to themselves as libertarian. They might refer to themselves simply as “civil libertarians”, but here they refer more to the ACLU than the libertarian movement.
- libertarian[1]
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libertarian[0] moves up to libertarian[1] when they finally give up on the D’s and R’s and actually join the LP.
- libertarian[2]
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After some time in the LP and greatly expanding one’s range of influences, you [usually] move up to level 2, where you begin to understand the nuanced differences between right-wing economics (corporate mercantilism) and true free enterprise. This of course includes rejecting ordinary corporate welfare, but also realizing that the corporate charter itself is welfare, and also recognizing that unions — so long as they are not proscribed into law — are a natural and important part of the free market, among other things.
As an aside, we were very fortunate in 2004 to finally have an almost fully level 2 libertarian presidential candidate. It was a tremendous step forward.
- libertarian[3]
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Spend enough time as a level 2 libertarian, and you start to ask some questions about land. I’m going to need a lot more space than I have here to pontificate on this subject, I’ll just say if you’ve gotten that far, welcome to level 3.
- libertarian[4]
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At level 4 you’ve been comfortably geolibertarian for a while. You’ve realized how radically every issue changes when looked at through that lens. You’ve been trying to work within the right-leaning framework of the LP, hoping to see it shift back towards true libertarianism, but finally seeing it as futile. At this point you either give up on political parties, start spreading your votes around (always vote for the challenger, etc), or become a Freedom Democrat.
So what’s at level 5? I suppose I’ll tell you when I get there : )
Sorry… It just sounds like more hairsplitting to me. I once did what you are doing now, but the fact is, until America finally decides to dump the 2 party system, we all are really nothing more than donkeys and elephants.
At least for the time being.
I ask you: What could be more Tao?
>Sorry… It just sounds like more hairsplitting to me.
Hence the “sort of”. The point I suppose is that there *is* a thing called libertarianism that is neither left nor right. But it’s such a thin line that we mere mortals are going to always be stepping on one side or the other. But even at that, if someone straddles that line consistantly, they simply *can’t* pick one side or the other, without denying themsleves half the time — as far as ideology goes.
However there was a second, more important part that I meant to write but didn’t get to. Which is that the partisan divide in the country may have reached an intractable point. Maybe the country is going to divide into the two America’s we’ve heard so much about. In which case yes, we’re all going to have to pick one side or another. But this has zero to do with ideology and everything to do with tribal allegiance.
Even at that though, there are a handful of us that may just have to take the opportunity to tell both sides to fuck off, as we wander out into the woods to lose ourselves in meditation, never to be heard from again.
That’s a very noble and enlightened stance to take, but it will only get you as far as the woods.
What is the point of a political voice if it’s only heard by fallen trees?
Politics is a social science. Once one ceases to be a social animal, “political voice” becomes a bizarre and meaningless phrase. It’s much like asking “what comes after time”.
I can’t think of anything more socially interactive than blogging, and more political than pronouncing your political affiliation.
If it’s pointless then what’s the point?
…except to promote an agenda, and the there are only 2 viable agendas to promote.
libertarian[5] is kevin carson, free-market anti-capitalist over at http://mutualist.blogspot.com/.
i’d have to say, i have met very few people in real life who call themselves libertarians and have actually reached level 2. no wonder libertarians get such a bap rep…. remember “Libertarian Girl” fer chyss..sakes?!? (http://libertariangirl.typepad.com/)
Ummm… I won’t be blogging in the woods…
>i’d have to say, i have met very few people in real life who call themselves libertarians and have actually reached level 2
No argument, although there are more of them than you might think. You find most of them inside the lp — most of the people who call themselves libertarian never even reach level 1.
Badnarik was as close as I’ve ever seen an LP candidate get; I was unenthusiastic about him until I heard him in a debate basically agreeing with Cobb about the evils of giving corporations the same rights as individuals. Overall he was too obsessed with guns and eliminating the Fed to completely win my approval, but he was definately the least of six evils.
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