TheJeffersonian
Member
- Joined
- Jan 26, 2011
- Messages
- 23
For anyone looking for a different take on what libertarianism is and the historical context it inhabits, I'd appreciate any comments/thoughts on a paper I wrote late last year.
Link is here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B44A9VlMMZe3SDNTY21hLTZTMTg
tl;dr-- Libertarianism today is a modern manifestation of Enlightenment principles that tend to bubble to the surface when populations feel widely disenfranchised or frustrated with the state.
In the past, activists using disobedience to defy govt authority were able to enact both dramatic and enduring political change when their actions were underwritten by a radical philosophy rooted in natural rights. The movements of Gandhi, King and the Sinn Fein (1905-1921) are remarkably similar in several ways to the modern libertarian movement. We might be able to learn much about creating real success from the way each approached their protest and public relations strategies.
I think only as a radical movement does libertarianism find historical precedent and context, and only as radicalism—the ideology of those who fight for complete, systemic change, not gradual or incremental tweaks in the law—can it actualize its ideals. This paper makes the point that Beltway Libertarianism is probably not going to create any real dramatic change due to the problems expressed in Public Choice Theory.
Not in the paper: I'm seeing all sorts of manifestations of disobedience happening right now... is there a new model for disobedience out there? Gun owners in CT, Bitcoin anarchists defying regulators to protect their privacy, militia protecting a rancher's property from govt agents. All over the world too it seems to be blowing up. etc. Why is this sort of activism largely unidentified with libertarianism, both here and abroad? Is there an opportunity for us to connect with radicals around the world we're missing?
Thanks!
Link is here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B44A9VlMMZe3SDNTY21hLTZTMTg
tl;dr-- Libertarianism today is a modern manifestation of Enlightenment principles that tend to bubble to the surface when populations feel widely disenfranchised or frustrated with the state.
In the past, activists using disobedience to defy govt authority were able to enact both dramatic and enduring political change when their actions were underwritten by a radical philosophy rooted in natural rights. The movements of Gandhi, King and the Sinn Fein (1905-1921) are remarkably similar in several ways to the modern libertarian movement. We might be able to learn much about creating real success from the way each approached their protest and public relations strategies.
I think only as a radical movement does libertarianism find historical precedent and context, and only as radicalism—the ideology of those who fight for complete, systemic change, not gradual or incremental tweaks in the law—can it actualize its ideals. This paper makes the point that Beltway Libertarianism is probably not going to create any real dramatic change due to the problems expressed in Public Choice Theory.
Not in the paper: I'm seeing all sorts of manifestations of disobedience happening right now... is there a new model for disobedience out there? Gun owners in CT, Bitcoin anarchists defying regulators to protect their privacy, militia protecting a rancher's property from govt agents. All over the world too it seems to be blowing up. etc. Why is this sort of activism largely unidentified with libertarianism, both here and abroad? Is there an opportunity for us to connect with radicals around the world we're missing?
Thanks!
