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Taming the Libertarian Conscience
Posted on: July 24, 2019 at 08:19:26 CT
pickle MU
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Taming the Libertarian Conscience and Changing Our Method
By Atilla Mert Sulker
July 24, 2019
https://www.lewrockwell.com/2019/07/atilla-mert-sulker/taming-the-libertarian-conscience-and-changing-our-method/
The world of libertarian thought is far from being insufficient in regards to ideas. Interdisciplinary scholars have emerged all over the world with vast interest in this doctrine, and have built upon the works of such great scholars as Rothbard and Mises. Rothbard himself was in fact an exponent of Mises, and to this day, thousands of great minds continue to carry the torch and bring in a plethora of new and fascinating ideas, ideas far more dense than those of mainstream thought, providing a fresh basis for solving various problems in the world.
But the main problem in contemporary libertarianism is not the lack of good ideas. There are indeed plenty. It is not even the disunity between so called “thin” and “thick” libertarians, or any factions for that matter. It is rather the means to the realization of the desired ends. Libertarians today have great ideas for the ideal free society, but seem to be lacking when it comes to finding a means to implement such ideas.
I have always viewed this area as the hardest to deal with. It is not the development of ideas that is troublesome- it is outreach. Just how do libertarians spread their ideas? How do they do so without tainting their ideas with a populist gloss? To what extent must libertarians work with people from other political leanings? What is the proper outreach model? These are the fundamental questions one will end up asking themselves when trying to solve this dilemma.
There is no doubt that up to this point, libertarianism has grown significantly. What was once seen as a movement for those on the fringes of society now receives significant attention, especially following the presidential campaigns of Ron Paul. A change of heart and mind has occurred in many people already, but beyond this, the leviathan state continues to tighten its grip on our property, and consequently, our liberties.
Trying the get “freedom candidates” elected has been the traditional method that libertarians have been pursuing for so long, whether under the banner of the Libertarian Party, or in the form of electing populist or libertarian leaning Republicans. This phenomenon is the heart of why libertarians are struggling to bring forth political change. It is very much evident that the flaw is not necessarily in the efforts espoused by libertarians, but rather in the methodology, i.e., the idea that we can “vote our way to freedom”.
Clearly the current state of affairs can’t magically be reversed. Robert Higgs’s ratchet effect theory clearly underscores this. The Higgsian doctrine asserts that once a major crisis is over, government will shrink, but never back to the level it was at before the outbreak of the crisis. Hence we are all like the frog waiting in the boiling pot.
Data put out by the IMF shows that before the U.S. committed to being involved in WWI, less than 2 percent of GDP was public spending. After the war, the lowest public spending sunk down to was around 3.6 percent. Following the Great Depression and WWII, public spending came down to a level of about 14 percent, but never got any lower than this. A classic representation of the ratchet effect.
We have travelled too far into the void to repeal the leviathan state. The U.S. national debt is already 21 trillion dollars, and continues to grow. We have become more than a leviathan state at home, but also an empire abroad. It would be foolish to think that this could be reversed gradually with the stroke of a pen. And electing so called “freedom candidates” does no good unless elected en masse. Cherry picking certain races to work to elect such candidates has little to no effect on the legislative process.
I had the opportunity to ask Lew Rockwell about this at the Mises Supporters Summit, earlier in September of 2018. My question was along the lines of this: “Can we vote ourselves to small government via electing “freedom candidates”, or do we need to scrap our government completely and rebuild political society from scratch?”. Upon answering, Rockwell described voting as a “sacrament of the state”, proclaiming that it is not the answer to our freedom. Rockwell then cited Hans Hoppe, stating “the wider the franchise, the more people voting, the less freedom there is.”. He closed off his remarks saying “ as a country, we were far better off when people had to own property [to vote]… now everybody can vote, we have a leviathan state, and these are not unconnected things.”.
This is not to say that is it fallacious to vote for or support a candidate who may have good qualities. To see voting as a solution to the current state of affairs is an expression of great naïveté, but it can still be used as a tool to numb the pain, so to speak. The role of running for office or even getting elected can also be a powerful bully pulpit position.
Regardless of this, the collapse is imminent. This is not to be an open invitation to further the growth of the empire, however. Where the leviathan state can be curtailed, it ought to be, if the opportunity comes about. But it would be foolish to think the empire could be curtailed to such an extent as to enact a clean repeal.
It is with this mindset that one can began to deduce a better solution to the problem of realizing libertarian ends. Though it may seem counterintuitive, perhaps the solution is not to vote our way to freedom, but to wait for the eventual collapse. Only then will there be a vacuum for libertarian ideas to be injected into. This vacuum is indeed the best solution, but for libertarians to prevail, they must make sure to fill it when they have the chance.
(Stayed tuned for part 2 which will examine the proposed solution)
By Atilla Mert Sulker
July 24, 2019
https://www.lewrockwell.com/2019/07/atilla-mert-sulker/taming-the-libertarian-conscience-and-changing-our-method/
The world of libertarian thought is far from being insufficient in regards to ideas. Interdisciplinary scholars have emerged all over the world with vast interest in this doctrine, and have built upon the works of such great scholars as Rothbard and Mises. Rothbard himself was in fact an exponent of Mises, and to this day, thousands of great minds continue to carry the torch and bring in a plethora of new and fascinating ideas, ideas far more dense than those of mainstream thought, providing a fresh basis for solving various problems in the world.
But the main problem in contemporary libertarianism is not the lack of good ideas. There are indeed plenty. It is not even the disunity between so called “thin” and “thick” libertarians, or any factions for that matter. It is rather the means to the realization of the desired ends. Libertarians today have great ideas for the ideal free society, but seem to be lacking when it comes to finding a means to implement such ideas.
I have always viewed this area as the hardest to deal with. It is not the development of ideas that is troublesome- it is outreach. Just how do libertarians spread their ideas? How do they do so without tainting their ideas with a populist gloss? To what extent must libertarians work with people from other political leanings? What is the proper outreach model? These are the fundamental questions one will end up asking themselves when trying to solve this dilemma.
There is no doubt that up to this point, libertarianism has grown significantly. What was once seen as a movement for those on the fringes of society now receives significant attention, especially following the presidential campaigns of Ron Paul. A change of heart and mind has occurred in many people already, but beyond this, the leviathan state continues to tighten its grip on our property, and consequently, our liberties.
Trying the get “freedom candidates” elected has been the traditional method that libertarians have been pursuing for so long, whether under the banner of the Libertarian Party, or in the form of electing populist or libertarian leaning Republicans. This phenomenon is the heart of why libertarians are struggling to bring forth political change. It is very much evident that the flaw is not necessarily in the efforts espoused by libertarians, but rather in the methodology, i.e., the idea that we can “vote our way to freedom”.
Clearly the current state of affairs can’t magically be reversed. Robert Higgs’s ratchet effect theory clearly underscores this. The Higgsian doctrine asserts that once a major crisis is over, government will shrink, but never back to the level it was at before the outbreak of the crisis. Hence we are all like the frog waiting in the boiling pot.
Data put out by the IMF shows that before the U.S. committed to being involved in WWI, less than 2 percent of GDP was public spending. After the war, the lowest public spending sunk down to was around 3.6 percent. Following the Great Depression and WWII, public spending came down to a level of about 14 percent, but never got any lower than this. A classic representation of the ratchet effect.
We have travelled too far into the void to repeal the leviathan state. The U.S. national debt is already 21 trillion dollars, and continues to grow. We have become more than a leviathan state at home, but also an empire abroad. It would be foolish to think that this could be reversed gradually with the stroke of a pen. And electing so called “freedom candidates” does no good unless elected en masse. Cherry picking certain races to work to elect such candidates has little to no effect on the legislative process.
I had the opportunity to ask Lew Rockwell about this at the Mises Supporters Summit, earlier in September of 2018. My question was along the lines of this: “Can we vote ourselves to small government via electing “freedom candidates”, or do we need to scrap our government completely and rebuild political society from scratch?”. Upon answering, Rockwell described voting as a “sacrament of the state”, proclaiming that it is not the answer to our freedom. Rockwell then cited Hans Hoppe, stating “the wider the franchise, the more people voting, the less freedom there is.”. He closed off his remarks saying “ as a country, we were far better off when people had to own property [to vote]… now everybody can vote, we have a leviathan state, and these are not unconnected things.”.
This is not to say that is it fallacious to vote for or support a candidate who may have good qualities. To see voting as a solution to the current state of affairs is an expression of great naïveté, but it can still be used as a tool to numb the pain, so to speak. The role of running for office or even getting elected can also be a powerful bully pulpit position.
Regardless of this, the collapse is imminent. This is not to be an open invitation to further the growth of the empire, however. Where the leviathan state can be curtailed, it ought to be, if the opportunity comes about. But it would be foolish to think the empire could be curtailed to such an extent as to enact a clean repeal.
It is with this mindset that one can began to deduce a better solution to the problem of realizing libertarian ends. Though it may seem counterintuitive, perhaps the solution is not to vote our way to freedom, but to wait for the eventual collapse. Only then will there be a vacuum for libertarian ideas to be injected into. This vacuum is indeed the best solution, but for libertarians to prevail, they must make sure to fill it when they have the chance.
(Stayed tuned for part 2 which will examine the proposed solution)
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Taming the Libertarian Conscience - pickle MU - 7/24 08:19:26