Date: Sat, 24 Mar 2001 23:30:09 EST From: freemanaz@aol.com Subject: [lpaz-discuss] From Keyword: Libertarian on AOL - Where does it all lead? To: lpaz-discuss@yahoogroups.com Reply-To: lpaz-discuss@yahoogroups.com
Subject: Where does it all lead? Date: 3/5/01 12:06 PM US Mountain Standard Time From: <A HREF="aol://3548:BKS III">BKS III</A> Message-id: <20010305140625.01776.00000825@ng-fx1.aol.com>
I have been a libertarian for several years now (about 11) and one thing I have determined is that we are not really going anywhere in a substantive way. The main reason for this is all of the infighting.
When I think of the LP I think of a scene from the movie Braveheart. The scene where Wallace is first knighted and the various Scottish nobles press him for support to their claim to the throne. Wallace says with great derision something to the effect of "You stand here and squabble over scraps from Longshank's table while ignoring your right to something better."
The situation here in AZ is a prime example of everything that is wrong with the LP and politically active libertarianism in general. I am a libertarian, and I live in AZ, yet I refuse to affiliate myself with either of the groups fighting one another tooth and nail to be the "official" LP of AZ. I have yet to hear a plausible and convincing argument from anyone on either side of that catfight as to how all of this squabbling is going to help increase liberty and reduce the intrusiveness of government. In fac, by going to the courts, these jerks nave tacitly admitted that they SUPPORT allowing government the power to determine the nature of a voluntary organization like a political party. How is that a libertarian action? If these hypocrites had a shred of integrity they would have contractually agreed to non-binding arbitration from a third, non-governmental, party professional arbitration service. Instead they did exactly what the Reps, Dems, Socialists, or any other champions of statism would do; they placed the decision in the hands of the government court system.
The situation in AZ is perhaps the most glaring, and bitterest example, but it is far from the only one. Our party, and our political philosophy, is riddled with dogmatic people who are willing to call anyone who disagrees with them on even a minor point a totalitarian.
Does anyone really believe that this is not known to the general public? Am I the only one who has spoken with people who think that the LP has many good ideas, but is very foolisly run and hasn't a prayer of truly substantive gains until/unless the internal bickering is curtailed? Am I the only one who has spoken with people who embrace libertarian ideas, but who refuse to join the LP because we give such a negative public image regarding our internal affairs?
I was once told a joke by a clergyman; actually it wasn't so much a joke, and a parable to illustrate the absurd levels of conflict people who believe in the same thing will go to focus on the 1% of diference in their views:
A woman is walking across a bridge and sees a man standing on the rail, poised to jump into the rapids below. She runs up to him and cries out. She - No, don't jump, there must be something to live for! He - I can think of nothing, life sucks and I'm going to end it. She - Wait, do you believe in God? He - Well, yes, I do. She - OK, there's something. God surely wouldn't want you to jump, I know because I too believe in God. He - Really? Are you a Christian? She - Yes, I am, I am a Baptist. He - I'm a Baptist too. She - Reformed or traditional? He - Reformed She - Me too! Reformed Southern Conference or Reformed Eastern Conference? He - Southern She - Me too! Council of 1898, or council of 1927? He - 1927 With that she pushes him off the railing and yells "Die Heretic"
We libertarians seem to spend way too much time pushing each other off the railing for disputes which, when placed against the backdrop of relentlessly grinding statist abuses, are just as foolish as those in the parable above.
Where will all of this bickering and foolishness lead? It leads to assisting the real statists and totalitarians orders of magnitude more than if we joined them. We help them by making the most intellectually valid and viable alternative to statism the exclusive province of a bunch of bickering children who could not agree on the appropriate means of exit from a room with only one door. Many people do not want to join the LP not because they don't want to support the policies, they do not want to join the LP because they do not want to affiliate themselves with us. Until we stop this asinine infighting, we will NEVER achieve any substantial degree of public support.
B.K. Shotton III
"None of the 'crises' listed as excuses for the theft of my liberty are as bad as is the loss of liberty."
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