Two interesting comments from yesterday's post regarding my joining LPUK. A thought provoking one from Roberto Sarrionandia and a provoking one from Duncan Moran.
Roberto first:
The Libertarian party, and movement, will ultimately be an obstacle to both liberty and intellectual freedom.
If one wishes to destroy coercion, the battle must be intellectual - not political. Free states cannot survive when the predominant philosophy is collectivist, altruistic and mystical. The Libertarian movement is certain to compromise itself out of existence.
I believe Ayn Rand summed it up most eloquently.
AR:They are not defenders of capitalism. They’re a group of publicity seekers who rush into politics prematurely, because they allegedly want to educate people through a political campaign, which can’t be done. Further, their leadership consists of men of every of persuasion, from religious conservatives to anarchists
www.aynrand.org/.../PageServer
In that party (even amongst its most influential members) you will find those who believe in some form of welfare state, those who believe appeasement and compromise is the basis of foreign policy, those who believe in a government education system. Most libertarians are even proud of their political diversity.
Ultimately, every political movement follows an intellectual one - without any exception. The libertarian movement is the attempt to bring liberty from the top downwards: I left the party shortly after joining.
And Duncan:
So how will they be paying for their "Swedish-style voucher system" to educate your children? Surely not by taxing my income. Trust you will be removing the "Educational Anarchist" logo from the site now that you are a fully paid-up party member.
Where to begin?
Roberto, I am still thinking about what you have written and trying to understand it. Over the last couple of months I have said elsewhere that I am concerned the Libertarian Party is a contradiction in terms; that I have grave concerns about collectivism in that regard; that I do not know whether any party is the right place for me.
I do not want to see a smaller state; I want to see no state. I don't think that's likely to happen, so what do I do? Do I do nothing? LPUK's aim is to "move as soon as practicable towards a Minarchist Libertarian State". I do believe that less coercion is better than more, but I cannot say that I think even a small amount of coercion in the absence of harm is a good thing, because I do not.
I feel unsettled by doing nothing, and I feel unsettled by the ongoing rafts of legislation, created by the main political parties, that take more power from the individual and hand it over to the state. LPUK have pledged no further legislative change, unless it transfers power back to the individual.
Am I describing a battle between pragmatism and idealism? LPUK is young and I want to see how their policies are fleshed out - in particular the transition from interim measures to their ultimate vision. What I do know is that I am actively thinking about these things, and I will reach a conclusion that sits well with me given the time. I'm not there yet, but I am headed in the right direction.
Duncan, the Swedish-style voucher system is an interim measure. I would imagine that it would be funded at least in part through taxation but LPUK would abolish income tax in favour of consumption-based taxes. A voucher system is not the answer, but as a short-term measure I think it is preferable to a state monopoly on education, which is expensive, inefficient and unwilling or unable to offer the diversity required by individual learners. LPUK's long-term vision includes the removal of universal provision of education, which (for me) requires clarification.
It's my belief that the state should have nothing to do with education at all and I want no contribution from a government to educate my children unless it comes in the form of tax breaks.
As an aside from that, I reject the accepted wisdom of the educational establishment which controls learners at the cost of their intellectual freedom. The badge stays.
