Why the
current Libertarian movement needs to change
Definitions:
Please note that in this article I use the word 'Libertarian' to mean
'Right-Libertarian'. Also I will not use the term
'Anarcho-Capitalist'. Although I am myself a supporter of the set of
principles that being an 'Anarcho- Capitalist' entails, ultimately
the controversy that the term brings up ensures I will not be using
it in this article.
Over the
past few years I have closely watched the current 'Libertarian'
manifestation evolve into something resembling a genuine movement.
However, in it's current form it shows many symptoms of an idea that
is about to wither away. Yet this is not to discredit the excellent
academic work done by many writers around the world. But serious
issues must be addressed.
The first
reason for this slow stagnation of ideas is the movements
instability. Without a shadow of a doubt libertarianism is at first
glance exclusively a North American affair. Ideas about freedom and
personal liberty seem to be a much more significant part of American
political thought than in Europe...or so it would seem. It appears
that thousands of Americans have taken well to the fiscally
conservative side of Libertarianism with gusto. Many prominent
members of the current Libertarian movement carry this socially
conservative message namely Ron Paul -the high priest of American
freedom along with others. Upon further analysis it seems clear to
this writer that part of this confusion over what Libertarianism
means has deep historical roots. Like all other ideologies it is
built from a myriad of thoughts, voices and ideas. Therefore the fact
that people who claim to be from the same ideology disagree on
certain issues can be forgiven; there is nothing wrong with people
holding 'conservative' values. Yet the the willingness to ride a
popular wave has left the current Libertarian movement on an unstable
footing. It is no coincidence that being in the midst of deep
economic depression and new revelations almost every day that reveal
the rotten depths to which state corruption and control has
reached,has spawned a powerful anti- state, anti- government spending
front. However Libertarians should have to confidence to move away
from the populist ramblings of a prominent few.
It is these
prominent few that are the second reason why the Libertarian
movement is failing. It fails to answer tough questions. Even a
cursory venture into the endless realms of the internet show that
libertarians are failing to answer tough questions, are wrought with
scandal and internally divided. As someone who follows many
free-market publications with a watchful eye, one could argue that
despite being prolific, Libertarian writers prefer to stay on
familiar territory. If you want to know anything about finance,
economics, government spying or the war on drugs then these outlets
are a treasure trove of information. Yet on the other hand if you are
interested in race, gender, history, immigration, Labour relations or
for that matter anything that is happening outside of North America
then forget it. It seems like Libertarians just don't care about
addressing issues outside their own comport zone. A recent interview
on the Keiser report with Austrian economist Antal Fekete brought to
light a significant point, the Movement has become somewhat dogmatic.
The detrimental effects of this I will address later. Secondly The
movement is becoming riven with scandal. Many of the bigger figures
in the free-market thinkers in the 21st century fail to
show a 'clean bill of health' in their private and public lives. This
in itself is not an issue, and with the internet reformation giving people the
ability to research the lives of academics ( private and public) in a
matter of seconds. Prominent Libertarians need to address these
concerns. The details of which I will not go into here. A large part
of this problem is the bias of the popular media in the USA.
Libertarians are easy pray for being denounced as racists,
unsympathetic towards the poor and or worse. Yet very few
libertarians seem ready to address issues concerned with these
issues. Instead of shying away from criticism Libertarians should
embrace and challenge it. Or forever try and build a movement of
inherently usable foundations.
Lastly as I
eluded to earlier, I would argue that the current Libertarian
movement is decidedly becoming non- intellectual. Weather it's an
aversion to dealing with unfamiliar issues, attempts of prominent
Libertarians to address those difficult issues or the lack of good,
constructive debate within the movement. Unfortunately all signs
point to stagation. Free-market ideas have probably never been more
popular than at any time in recent memory. But despite this, there is
a dearth seriously influential libertarian thinkers in recent years.
This is no to decry the amazing work achieved by many such as Walter
Block, Lachman and Wendy Mcellroy to name a tiny handful. However I
must conclude that overall there is no one uniting ideologue for
modern Libertarianism. Part of the reason for this is the synthesis
of the areas I have covered in this article. A lack of determination
to address hard questions and preferences for popular short news
clips or videos as opposed to academic journal articles and books.
True easy to digest articles are extremely useful. And I am certainly
not arguing that to be successful ideology there should be a closed
off, cerebral cabal- shut away in an ivory tower. But a lack of solid
academic material is seriously hampering the modern Libertarian
movement.
Arguably
this point proven by the very nature of the modern Libertarian
Movement. I have previously discussed the over emphasis on economic
issues within the Right- Libertarian Camp. This is because the
Austrian Field of economics in essence, is the strongest card there
is in Libertarian deck. Austrian economics has the closest thing to a
uniting philosophy for all Libertarians. The major architects of
modern Libertarianism are Austrian economists. Friedrich Von Hayek,
Lugvig Von Mises, Murray Rothbard And Carl Menger are probably the
most influential academics in Right-Libertarianism, and have made the
largest contribution to its ideology. The Austrian school of
economics has become the main framework of the Libertarian movement
because it is academically rigorous, open to criticism and ruthlessly
revised and revisited. As a result, there is a strong framework of
academically accepted theory. It is work mentioning that other
non-economists have made significant contributions to Libertarian
ideology, Robert Nozick, Morris and Linda Tannehill, David Friedman,
Ayn Rand not to mention countless academics that exist today and
stretching back through the enlightenment.
In
conclusion, one could argue that the current Libertarian movement has
some severe weaknesses that need to be addressed in time. And I am
confident that these issues will be addressed. But this will only be
achieved with academic rigor and tackling difficult issues.
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