Friday, September 21, 2007
"When ideas start to matter, libertarians will win."
When ideas start to matter, libertarians will win.
That's the concluding line of a piece written by Koen Swinkels about Ron Paul's candidacy:
http://www.lewrockwell.com/orig8/swinkels1.html
It captures something I've tried to put into words before by saying that elections are a lagging, not leading, indicator of public opinion. By this I mean that the winning of an election should be viewed not primarily as a means of getting power, but as an indication that people are already on our side. This explains my concern with the current Libertarian Party leadership's emphasis on winning elections - I feel that it is in large part an instance of putting the cart before the horse.
I think that in two significant ways the attempt to copy the electoral strategy of the power parties (DP and RP) is a mistake.
First, in an ideological sense, such an emphasis on achieving electoral success without ideological acceptance makes sense only if your goal is to use other people to get what you desire - in our case that would be freedom. However, the very nature of libertarianism is the desire to convince others that you should each be free to pursue your desires independently. The idea that any meaningful reform (or deconstruction, if you will) of the deeply flawed state we have now can be accomplished by a few people voted into place without understanding by those who still see the state as father-protector and mother-provider is a terrible mistake. Our task is to enlist others in our cause and to persuade them to view it as their own cause. And our cause is not the lowering of a certain class of taxes, or doing away with a particular government agency! It is nothing less than the freeing of individuals to pursue their lives and enrich their communities in peace and freedom.
Second, in a strictly practical sense, American politics is not so constructed that an ideological party can capture the segment of the voter population which is most closely ideologically aligned with it. Instead, the system here encourages the vast majority of voters to adopt the 'lesser of two evils' approach - and this will not change simply by having the LP shift a few ideological-points in one direction or another (vaguely 'rightward' seems to be the trend right now, though that can always change). The best chance such a strategy has of working is that the LP assumes the largely non-ideological place of one of the existent power parties. And how would this make things better?
I am not here saying that participating in elections is a bad thing. There are many advantages to Libertarians participating in the electoral system as an ideological party - this is why so many anti-state activists have joined and stay active with the LP. It is, in my opinion, the reason the LP continues to function at a reasonably high level for an ideological party in America even after 35 years. My point is that our focus as a political party cannot be the same focus that the DP and RP have, because we do not want the same thing they want. Libertarians want Americans to agree that individual freedom is the answer, not that particular Libertarians will enact or implement any particular five-year-plan for liberty. Republicans and Democrats want, fundamentally, to rule others. Libertarians want, fundamentally, to be left to rule themselves. The way this will happen is when a significant number of our neighbors both understand and share this desire. Kindling and cultivating understanding of and desire for freedom should therefore be our first task. We should not whine that 35 years have passed and things have, in many ways, grown worse. This was, after all, precisely the situation in the decade before the first American revolution.
The Libertarian Party should engage vigorously in electoral politics. We should strive at the national level to obtain and keep 50-state ballot access. Our local parties should educate, recruit, train, and support strong principled libertarian candidates (take note the order of operations I suggest). In my vision, Libertarian candidates who win - and they will win - will be members of their communities who are respected personally and for their commitment to principle and to freedom - not for their ability to make deals or bring back pork to the district. These Libertarian office-holders will be enthusiastic supporters of an uncompromising vision of freedom which will further educate and attract the neighbors. Their job will not be to 'enact' freedom (a confused idea!) but instead to kindle the desire for it and understanding of it so strongly that the power-party politicians are forced to compromise in an (ultimately vain) attempt to continue in office themselves.
When Libertarians start winning elections in large numbers, it will be either because they have assumed the traditional roles of power politicians - and then what will we have achieved? - or because those around them in their communities have heard their message of peace and freedom and have embraced it as their own heartfelt desire. As Swinkels wrote: "When ideas start to matter, libertarians will win." I agree wholeheartedly. I only hope that the Libertarian Party will continue to be the natural home of those libertarians as Americans turn their thoughts and aspirations once more to freedom from oppression here at home.
¶ 9:28 AM
That's the concluding line of a piece written by Koen Swinkels about Ron Paul's candidacy:
http://www.lewrockwell.com/orig8/swinkels1.html
It captures something I've tried to put into words before by saying that elections are a lagging, not leading, indicator of public opinion. By this I mean that the winning of an election should be viewed not primarily as a means of getting power, but as an indication that people are already on our side. This explains my concern with the current Libertarian Party leadership's emphasis on winning elections - I feel that it is in large part an instance of putting the cart before the horse.
I think that in two significant ways the attempt to copy the electoral strategy of the power parties (DP and RP) is a mistake.
First, in an ideological sense, such an emphasis on achieving electoral success without ideological acceptance makes sense only if your goal is to use other people to get what you desire - in our case that would be freedom. However, the very nature of libertarianism is the desire to convince others that you should each be free to pursue your desires independently. The idea that any meaningful reform (or deconstruction, if you will) of the deeply flawed state we have now can be accomplished by a few people voted into place without understanding by those who still see the state as father-protector and mother-provider is a terrible mistake. Our task is to enlist others in our cause and to persuade them to view it as their own cause. And our cause is not the lowering of a certain class of taxes, or doing away with a particular government agency! It is nothing less than the freeing of individuals to pursue their lives and enrich their communities in peace and freedom.
Second, in a strictly practical sense, American politics is not so constructed that an ideological party can capture the segment of the voter population which is most closely ideologically aligned with it. Instead, the system here encourages the vast majority of voters to adopt the 'lesser of two evils' approach - and this will not change simply by having the LP shift a few ideological-points in one direction or another (vaguely 'rightward' seems to be the trend right now, though that can always change). The best chance such a strategy has of working is that the LP assumes the largely non-ideological place of one of the existent power parties. And how would this make things better?
I am not here saying that participating in elections is a bad thing. There are many advantages to Libertarians participating in the electoral system as an ideological party - this is why so many anti-state activists have joined and stay active with the LP. It is, in my opinion, the reason the LP continues to function at a reasonably high level for an ideological party in America even after 35 years. My point is that our focus as a political party cannot be the same focus that the DP and RP have, because we do not want the same thing they want. Libertarians want Americans to agree that individual freedom is the answer, not that particular Libertarians will enact or implement any particular five-year-plan for liberty. Republicans and Democrats want, fundamentally, to rule others. Libertarians want, fundamentally, to be left to rule themselves. The way this will happen is when a significant number of our neighbors both understand and share this desire. Kindling and cultivating understanding of and desire for freedom should therefore be our first task. We should not whine that 35 years have passed and things have, in many ways, grown worse. This was, after all, precisely the situation in the decade before the first American revolution.
The Libertarian Party should engage vigorously in electoral politics. We should strive at the national level to obtain and keep 50-state ballot access. Our local parties should educate, recruit, train, and support strong principled libertarian candidates (take note the order of operations I suggest). In my vision, Libertarian candidates who win - and they will win - will be members of their communities who are respected personally and for their commitment to principle and to freedom - not for their ability to make deals or bring back pork to the district. These Libertarian office-holders will be enthusiastic supporters of an uncompromising vision of freedom which will further educate and attract the neighbors. Their job will not be to 'enact' freedom (a confused idea!) but instead to kindle the desire for it and understanding of it so strongly that the power-party politicians are forced to compromise in an (ultimately vain) attempt to continue in office themselves.
When Libertarians start winning elections in large numbers, it will be either because they have assumed the traditional roles of power politicians - and then what will we have achieved? - or because those around them in their communities have heard their message of peace and freedom and have embraced it as their own heartfelt desire. As Swinkels wrote: "When ideas start to matter, libertarians will win." I agree wholeheartedly. I only hope that the Libertarian Party will continue to be the natural home of those libertarians as Americans turn their thoughts and aspirations once more to freedom from oppression here at home.
¶ 9:28 AM
