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| reply to nixen
Re: Something said by nixen:Libertarians, as centrists, tend to be left of both of the two major parties' national office holders. That's not quite true.
Conservatives say Libertarians are "left" due to L's believing that social relationships should be consensual, not coerced by public law. (E.g., no war on drugs; no definition of marriage; etc.).
Liberals say Libertarians are "right" due to L's believing that markets (essentially socio-economic relationships) should be consensual, not coerced by public law. (E.g., no SEC or food & drug quality laws; free markets in the true, Darwinian sense.).
Libertarians (true Libertarians) are extremely consistent in their beliefs. This leads to adherants of the two traditional parties feeling uncomfortable -- liberals advocating freedom of individual matters, but not in commerce; conservatives advocating freedom of commerce, but not individual matters (unless it involves guns).
But, it's all meaningless because true, consistent Libertarianism cannot, and has not existed. It's not reasonable. There will always be coercion in any society. Once that can of worms is opened, it's just a matter of negotiation -- and, the unfortunate spectacle of both political parties unable to cope with the fact that they're both violating the same principle (non-coercion) in different ways, accusing the other of being guilty.
And then there's the Ron Paul (small l) libertarians. They use all the Big-L rhetoric to sound like they're standing on moral high ground (above the two parties), while distancing themselves from Big Ls due to their obvious irrelevancy, and thus embracing coercion just like the two parties. Just differently, in ways that benefit them.
Mark |
