A Man Without a Party, An Ideology With No Home

[NortheastCynic]

I am a libertarian in America.Â*Â*The Republicans have abandoned me and have replaced me with the Christian Right.Â*Â*The Democrats are actively trying to take my money from me to feed the bureaucracy.Â*Â*The Libertarian Party is unelectable.Â*Â*I'm a man without a party.Â*Â*Why libertarianism?Â*Â*What is libertarianism?Â*Â*Libertarianism is an ideology that subscribes to the theory that the United States Federal Government's purposes are limited to providing National Security, ensuring equal and broad rights for all and the general upkeep of the country's infrastructure [boarder included].Â*Â*Libertarianism rejects social welfare programs in which the government does for people what they should be doing for themselves, likewise it rejects corporate welfare programs for the same reason.Â*Â*Libertarianism rejects the legislation of morality; if you don't believe that something is "right", then don't do it.Â*Â*We are a party of individual freedom and free markets.

There was once a time when Republicans stood up for libertarianism, but their respect for the ideology has withered over time.Â*Â*We were promised a small government revolution in 1994; the federal government is currently larger than it has ever been at any time in United States history.Â*Â*American citizens are held for indefinite period of times without being charged with a crime and recreational drugs are illegal because the majority of people in this country do not believe in sovereignty over one's body and Americans' phone calls are being wiretapped by the Federal Government without a warrant.Â*Â*"On September 11th the world changed!"Â*Â*They say, and they are right, we are at war with people bent on the destruction of this country.Â*Â*When I say this country, I do no mean America the land, I mean America the ideal.Â*Â*America the ideal is based on the rule of law, our Constitution, seperation of powers, etc.Â*Â*If we continue to change ourselves into a progressively more authoritarian states we will help the terrorists succeed in changing our way of life.Â*Â*God has blessed America with Founders with the foresight to write a Constitution designed to keep the American people free, let's not waste that blessing.

-NC

[sbannon]

Well said. I don't agree with the entire Libertarian platform, but I feel for those who do and find themselves so poorly represented in our nation.

[Labrocca]

I like the libertarian platform but as you say...they aren't electable. Great editorial btw.

[firefox]

*border. That said, have you considered the Free State Project (http://www.freestateproject.org/)?

[NortheastCynic]

I've taken a look at it, but currently I'm a semi-broke college student in Boston, so that doesn't look like it's in my future.

-NC

[firefox]

So am I and I'm running a Local Group (2 actually) and am planning to move in late '08 after I graduate. What's your excuse?! :P

[NortheastCynic]

LOL, fair enough...I think I'm too attached to Boston and hope to run for local office someday. So wait, are you a student in Boston, or just a student in general?

-NC

[firefox]

I'm at a U in WA actually. Is the high taxation and lack of liberty really as bad over there as they say?

[NortheastCynic]

Unfortunately, yes.

-NC

[cs0564]

The Republicans have abandoned me and have replaced me with the Christian Right.Â*Â*
-NC


As a Christian I am actually hoping the party gets back to its conservative/moderate ways. There is a reason why religion and politics don't mix. Our Founding fathers knew this and we have got to get back to it.

[NortheastCynic]

Amen CS, there's a difference between having religious beliefs [which I do, I'm a Roman Catholic but have some serious problems with the Church] and legislating them.

-NC

[Big Dave]

A creed of libertarianism, like all political creeds lives in the spectrum between the two extremes of Totalitarianism (Big Brother the theoretical ideal and Stalinism as the practical expression) and Anarchy (Mad Max World as the theoretical ideal and Somalia as the practical expression). The creed of libertarianism (capital "L" referes to the LP) is perilously close to the anarchic extreme.

History shows us that people will tolerate milennia of weak to moderately strong totalitarianism but they flat want no part of anarchy. This is why authoritarianism (moderate totalitarianism) seems to always follow revolution. The revolution overthrows the established order but cannot replace it quick enough to prevent anarchy and the reaction sets in an authoritarianism prevails. The US revolution was highly unusual in that it had something in place to stave off anarchy, at least at the local level. Stave off, not prevent. shay's rebellion was a portent if things didn't firm up quick.

Libertarianism is the modern expression of Jefferson's vision. Jefferson was quite happy with the Articles of Confederation but it was apparent to all in that day that the Articles simply were not working. Hamilton's Constitution made for a lot stronger central government and Jefferson was opposed to that. The tension carried forward to the Civil War. The Civil War affirmed the primacy of the central government, but the post-reconstruction reaction brought Jeffersonian libertarianism back to the fore. Teddy Roosevelt and Wilson eroded it and FDR turned the Democratic Party against Jefferson's principles once and for all. The libertarian creed has been on the run ever since.

Libertarianism has some awfully good ideas. Many people are uneasy about the metastatis of the federal government. That the federal government consumes 20% of the GDP leaves many uneasy. The incredible amount of red tape involved in starting a new business is throttling the US economy.

The LP turns around and betrays their good ideas with extremist notions like legalizing crack, specie money and abandonment of forward defense.

The votes lie in a bell-shaped curve on the spectrum. To win elections, a party must capture enough of the center. The ideas of legal heroin, passive defense and no central bank scare the bejeebers out of the center. Hence the LP is stuck in 0.5%-land.

One sometimes wonders if the obstinate adherence of the LP to extreme positions is just a tacit way of denying any desire to govern.

To get into the political game, the LP must return to its roots - laissez-faire economic policy. The GOP has failed to rein in the bureaucracy, and has left the door wide open for the LP to kove against the bureaucracy. The LP needs to forget about terrorists and try to protect US employers from a rapacious and unchecked bureaucracy.

Maybe the LP could make a case for legalized pot. Enough of the Baby Boomers tried it to know the old stereotypes are hogwash. But the LP must de-couple pot from heroin, crack, and meth. To fail to do so would be to go "a bridge too far" and they wind up with nothing. To use the football analogy, quit throwing "Hail Mary" passes when the oposition is in a pass defense. Run the fullback up the middle and get a few small wins.

[Mayberry]

What's your excuse?! New Hampshire is too friggin' cold! How 'bout a more temperate locale? I'd be in like Flynn! I hear South Texas is nice! :P[/b][/quote]

[NortheastCynic]

Hey BigDave, welcome to DF.

I'm sure it comes as no surprise to you that I take issue with several things you have said.
A creed of libertarianism, like all political creeds lives in the spectrum between the two extremes of Totalitarianism (Big Brother the theoretical ideal and Stalinism as the practical expression) and Anarchy (Mad Max World as the theoretical ideal and Somalia as the practical expression). The creed of libertarianism (capital "L" referes to the LP) is perilously close to the anarchic extreme.It is closer to anarchy than toltalitarianism, but it certainly and clearly distinguishes itself from anarchy. Libertarians are typically minarchists, supporting a government who's sole responsibility is to protect and defend the rights of its citizens [and also provide for the infrastructure of the country]. This is in stark comparison with anarchy.
The LP turns around and betrays their good ideas with extremist notions like legalizing crack, specie money and abandonment of forward defense.Extremist notions? Recreational drugs were legal during this century, Dave. Gold-backed currency was also a thing of recent history. Now, as for the abandonment of "forward defense"; I think we ought to define forward defense before we continue down that road. I will say this; a foreign policy of non-intervention has been the United State's policy-of-choice until relatively recently. Libertarianism does not have views I believe to be "extreme", it is statist views who advocate state power over individual power who have afflicted this country and pulled it away from its roots, libertarianism.
Maybe the LP could make a case for legalized pot. Enough of the Baby Boomers tried it to know the old stereotypes are hogwash. But the LP must de-couple pot from heroin, crack, and meth. To fail to do so would be to go "a bridge too far" and they wind up with nothing. To use the football analogy, quit throwing "Hail Mary" passes when the oposition is in a pass defense. Run the fullback up the middle and get a few small wins.Politically, I don't necessarily disagree with you, Dave. A moderate, proliberty Democrat or Republican is going to be the individual who paves the way for libertarianism in this country, not an ideological purist. Legalize pot, then move on to harder drugs, etc. Incrementalism is the LP's only option.

-NC

[Big Dave]

Incrementalism is the way stuff gets done.

The rigid and loud-mouthed adherence to extreme positions like specie money and hard drug legalization drive people away from the LP and gets them labelled as kooks, thus tarnishing their better ideas. To me this comes off as a deliberate ploy to avoid ever having to actually govern. At least, the Democrats and GOP are eager to govern.

Do you really think there is enough gold and silver in the world to back 5% of the money out there? You are talking the biggest deflation of all time, bar none. To economists, deflation is the dirtiest word of all because the only remedy anybody has ever found for deflation is war.

I do not say libertarianism is anarchy but it is one of the last stops on the route.

The history bit is to acknowledge that libertarianism is an old thread in US political thought now stuck with a long name. The marginalization of libertarianism may be the ultimate triumph of Hamilton over Jefferson.

[NortheastCynic]

The rigid and loud-mouthed adherence to extreme positions like specie money and hard drug legalization drive people away from the LP and gets them labelled as kooks, thus tarnishing their better ideas. To me this comes off as a deliberate ploy to avoid ever having to actually govern. At least, the Democrats and GOP are eager to govern.This does not square with recent events within the LP. The LP has recently seen an extreme shift in ideology, and is now being run by "reformists" [moderate libertarians], leading "extremists" to bolt the party. The LP is not intentionally purifying itself to avoid governing. No political entity would do such a thing. Again though, you're labeling of libertarian views on drug policy as "extremist" is subjective. Is it extreme to allow one to control what goes into one's own body? In my view, it is not, it is a natural right to control one's own body and own one's self.
Do you really think there is enough gold and silver in the world to back 5% of the money out there? You are talking the biggest deflation of all time, bar none. To economists, deflation is the dirtiest word of all because the only remedy anybody has ever found for deflation is war.I have never stated that I favor gold-backed money.
I do not say libertarianism is anarchy but it is one of the last stops on the route.One could argue that social conservatism is a stop on the route to fascism or that liberalism is a stop on the route to socialism. Such rhetoric doesn't prove or debase any of thoes ideologies.

The history bit is to acknowledge that libertarianism is an old thread in US political thought now stuck with a long name. The marginalization of libertarianism may be the ultimate triumph of Hamilton over Jefferson. I am acknowledging libertarianism as the founding principles of this country. Principles from which we have become deattached, which is sad and detrimental to freedom in the United States.

-NC[/quote]

[Big Dave]

Libertarianism may have been one of the founding principles of the country but then so was slavery. Unwilling to change, the creed has been left behind and is marginalized.

For the creed to make any sort of real comeback, it will have to jettison some of its more extreme notions (crack legalization, specie money) and begin to wrok itself toward the center, finding the parts of the creed that the majority can get their hands around and what it cannot.

I might suggest energetically embracing the Ninth and Tenth Amendments to the Constitution, and forget the heroin.

[NortheastCynic]

You can't have it both ways Dave. On one hand you brush aside libertarianism as part of the past, 'like slavary', but then opine that we should concern ourselves with the 9th and 10th Amendments...Are they not, like slavary, part of our past?

The only thing that makes the legalization of recreational drugs is the fact that our country no longer values freedom, it is sad that we are so fargone from our principles that a person no longer has the right to control what goes into their own body.

-NC