A message to libertarians by Joshua King, June 27, 2013 Gaddsden Flag To All Libertarians For my first article, a short message which I am sure all of us Libertarians feel is important. It’s all very well and good with a minority of society advancing libertarianism and saying ‘I told you so’, whenever the inevitable government failures come to light. The necessary progression however is indeed, to gain notable support from the general public. Of course, something which makes this objective somewhat difficult to attain is the huge number of statists created by our allegedly ‘free society.’ The ideal priority should thus always be the advancement of libertarianism to statists in order to save the country and indeed other parts of the world from further embarking upon a Road to Serfdom. A few suggestions: Empathy A statist is a victim, not a criminal. The vast majority of statists feel they are doing the right thing for the greater good. Increasing the national minimum wage to ‘save the poor worker from exploitation’ sounds fantastic in theory doesn’t it? The only difference between a statist and a Libertarian is awareness and and knowledge of the results of their statist solutions. We share far more similarities with a statist in terms of intentions than a frustrated Libertarian may initially think. Expect and prevent/counter statist prejudices As a Libertarian, most people will almost certainly misunderstand your message. Thanks to our glorious two-party-system we live in a western society where many wrongly perceive there to be only two ways of political thought: socialist leaning or crony capitalist- Labour or Conservative, Democrat or Republican. Therefore if you believe in marriage equality you’re clearly a secret socialist; likewise if you want taxes reduced you are a selfish capitalist pig. Statists on the whole are unaware of what libertarianism actually means, it is thus very easy to be criticised by both sets of statists who misunderstand you due to their previous prejudices. Don’t underestimate the importance of qualifying the Libertarian ideology before debate. Always make it clear Libertarianism is an ideology of legal, social, and economic freedom of the individual. Speak in terms of results, not theory. Their goals do not need to change, only their solutions Statists believe that theory equals the result; this is where libertarians and statists essentially differ. Explain how the cure can very often be worse than the disease regarding government intervention. ‘What does high taxation and regulation do? It keeps the big businesses big and the small ones small, i.e. Google and Starbucks paying no tax, and your small independent store paying the full allocated amount’. Arguments such as this not only help to persuade statists that regulation is not a cure, but that their proposed solution to the problem of big business actually makes the situation worse. Their previous ideals of free and fair competition are thus still able to remain, all that changes is their acceptance of the Libertarian free-market solution. The problem is not policy but their understanding of policy Call me biased but my experiences dictate that the libertarian policy can be supported by almost anyone who is open to new ideas. After conversations with many statists where one is properly able to do the Libertarian philosophy justice; it almost always prevails. Have confidence, the ideology of freedom is on your side.
Posted on: Tue, 03 Sep 2013 16:48:30 +0000