At the Texas Students for Liberty conference I heard a lot of speakers. One of the issues several of them touched on was the intellectual origins of the libertarianism, pointing out quite correctly that it is an intellectual movement on the political right which balances out the intellectual left which generally has a much higher profile. Nigel Ashford from the Institute for Humane Studies was particularly effective in conveying the relationship between intellectualism and libertarianism in the context of the work of F. A. Hayek and Milton Friedman.
What became clear during Ashford's very enjoyable speech and from the questions which followed is that libertarians, including the young activists at this conference, really do think of themselves as intellectuals and identify with the intellectual elite. What also became clear was that they are utterly oblivious to the fact that they suffer from exactly the same liabilities as the leftist elite, particularly intellectual insularity and the ineffectiveness as a political movement which comes from being so focused on ideology and operating outside of the system that they are incapable of effectively acting on their beliefs or accomplishing anything in the political arena.
The long-time libertarian activists who made up maybe a third of the audience were eager to stand up and talk proudly about their token political campaigns where they spent no money but got their name mentioned in the local newspaper when they won 3% of the vote. Ashford led them on by asking what they would do if they had $10 million to spend on whatever they wanted, which produced a variety of unrealistic pipe-dreams and schemes to flush money down a rat-hole. What he should have said as a conclusion was that so long as they keep themselves splendidly isolated from mainstream politics no one will ever give them $10 million because the money would be wasted on achieving nothing and certainly do very little to grow liberty in the nation.
It's heartening to see the growth of interest in liberty and bringing our government under control, but it's enormously frustrating to see so much of this enthusiasm misdirected into the political dead end and do-nothingism which still characterizes the Libertarian Party. The truth is that the pissed-off non-intellectuals of the Tea Party movement who come to libertarianism out of expediency rather than intellect have already accomplished more real political change in a year than the Libertarian Party has accomplished in more than 30 years.
Article comments
— go to most recent comments1 - Joanne Huspek
Sounds like a plan.
I bemoan the two party system. It's not enough parties for me. I fit in neither category, and if I vote for one because I like parts of the platform, I'm invariably dismayed later by the other parts of their dogma.
I hope the Libertarians find a way into the hearts of Americans that's unique yet catchy. I don't think I am alone in my frustration. I'm not "young" but I just might sign up for that.
2 - Ruvy
Dave's practical suggestions all make sense - this coming from someone who does not agree with a whole lot of his political ideas. You do not learn politics until you actually have to practice politics, convince voters to vote for this or that piddling asshole, or this or that piddling proposition. You do not learn politics until you deal with real people who have real complaints. That is how I learned politics, and that is how I suspect that Dave learned politics as well.
Ivory towers have one single purpose in the universe - to provide a place for pigeons to shit.
3 - Lumpy
Libertarians are mostly arrogant fools. The article is right to compare them to the self absorbed intellectual elite of the left. They are just as useless.
4 - Baronius
A libertarian working constituent services? "No, Mrs. Jackson, this office will not help you with your VA benefits. You shouldn't have fought an unnecessary war in the first place. And you definitely shouldn't be taking money from Americans now. Why would you contact this office, anyway? If the VA benefits are yours, and they're not, you shouldn't rely on your congressional office to get them for you. That just adds another layer of bureaucracy onto an already burgeoning government. Thank you for your letter. We will be sending you a bill for the cost of this response."
5 - Nicolas Martin
Some interesting thoughts, but one error. Most of the "libertarians" who run for office are not ideological purists, they are the LP don't-offend-anyone type. A recent candidate for Indiana Secretary of State put forth these as his main issues:
1. Opposition to gerrymandering, which he called a "number one issue."
2. Encouraging people to vote
3. Bringing the Dept. of Motor Vehicles under control of the Sec. of State.
He delivered platitudes about liberty but took no position on any controversial issue, like drug prohibition. He declared that he was "proud" to have worked for a local government as a permit issuer.
This person was pretty characteristic of LP candidates, who offer a libertarianism that is so diluted that it is almost homeopathic.
6 - Clavos
This person was pretty characteristic of LP candidates, who offer a libertarianism that is so diluted that it is almost homeopathic.
Good line...
7 - handyguy
There's never going to be 'pure' libertarianism in the US or in any modern, complex society -- just as there won't be pure socialism.
So if we're always going to have a hybrid, 'impure' system, let's just say so. I definitely agree the mix could use a little adjustment -- although I doubt my suggested adjustments would match Dave's or Kenn Jacobine's.
It might help if we would stop caricaturing each other's models so viciously. The things the libertarian writers on here say about the current administration for instance -- pure propaganda, not reasoned, balanced argument.
8 - Eric Sundwall
I could win the NY Senate seat with 10 mil . . .
9 - Clavos
With 10 mil I wouldn't want the NY senate seat -- or anything else to do with the government.
I'd be outta here.
On the high seas...
10 - STM
Lumpy, why don't you tell us what you really think?
11 - STM
Clav: "I'd be outta here ... one the high seas".
Headed for the Panama canal, and then southwest across the big pond??
12 - Clavos
Fair dinkum, mate, with a stop or two in Fiji, p'raps Tahiti, and other delightful places along the way.
13 - STM
Savusavu is where all the trans-Pacific yachties seem to stop ... it's on Vanua Levu, the second biggest island - but not the main island - of Fiji. The port looks a bit like one of those bigger trading-post towns on the Amazon that you see on cable TV. But it's the surrounding area rather than the town that is so spectacular. Divers' paradise too. I think it's one of the most beautiful places I've ever seen.
Then it's probably a day and a night's sail on to Nadi or Suva on the main island. The little island groups off the main island are, literally, south pacific paradise.
Most of French Polynesia is paradise too, but a bit pricey.
Get your boat out Clav!
14 - Dr Dreadful
Careful, mate. You might stop in Fiji and not get any further.
I know a couple of quiet little places in the Mamanucas where you could throw out the anchor and not be too bothered with weighing it again...
15 - STM
Yeah, me too ...
Castaway Island Doc???? 15 minutes by seaplane from Nadi, and a thousand miles from caring about anything.
We rushed from Nadi because the seaplane was leaving at 10.30. When we got to the place, it was just a hut and a wharf, with no sign of life.
Forgot about Fiji Time. The plane arrived about 11.30, the pilot had no shoes on ...
Paradise. No one rushes.
16 - Baronius
Eric, it takes more than money to get the NY senate seat; you also have to free Puerto Rican terrorsts. (Whatever happened to the political hack who brokered that deal, anyway? I hope the Justice Department got their hands on him.)
17 - Clavos
The port looks a bit like one of those bigger trading-post towns on the Amazon that you see on cable TV.
Seen 'em live. I've cruised much of the Amazon, though on a charter, not my own boat. The Teatro Amazonas, the opera house in Manaus, is amazing, built in 1896, at the height of the rubber boom, it saw such operatic luminaries as Caruso and Jenny Lind.
Manaus, the largest city in the Amazon, is hardly a "trading post," but it is interesting, not only for the opera house, but also for its proximity to the "Meeting of the waters," which marks the joining of the Negro and Solimoes rivers, thus forming the Amazon itself. The waters of the Rio Negro, as its name describes, are black, and the Meeting of the waters is famous for the fact that the black waters of the Negro and the brown waters of the Solimoes flow downstream side-by-side, without mixing, for about six clicks (4 Mi.). It's quite a spectacular sight. The Amazon basin (with all its tributaries) contains about 20% of all the world's fresh water.
it's on Vanua Levu, the second biggest island...But it's the surrounding area rather than the town that is so spectacular. Divers' paradise too. I think it's one of the most beautiful places I've ever seen.
So says a friend of mine who is methodically running down the list of the world's best dive spots; she dove there two summers ago.
18 - Ruvy
Since you decided to take over Nalle's comment thread, Stan, I'm giving you a taste of "Australian Generosity"
AUSTRALIAN GENEROSITY AT ITS BEST !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
A big earthquake with the strength of 8.1 on the Richter scale has hit Lebanon.
Two million Lebanese have died and over a million are injured.
The country is totally ruined and the government doesn't know where to start with providing help to rebuild.
The rest of the world is in shock.
The United States is sending troops to help.
Saudi Arabia is sending oil.
Latin American countries are sending supplies.
The small island country New Zealand is sending sheep, cattle and food crops.
The European community (except France) is sending money.
The Asian continents are sending labour to assist in rebuilding infrastructure.
The Australians, not to be outdone, are sending two million replacement Lebanese.
God Bless Our Aussie generosity.
19 - Clavos
LOL! That's funny, Ruvy!
20 - Dr Dreadful
Castaway Island Doc????
Yep. Stayed there in November 05. Made the mistake of leaving afterwards...
When we got to the place, it was just a hut and a wharf, with no sign of life.
Ah yes, well, you see, the seaplane lands just around the point from the resort, so when you get off, all you see is a deserted beach, the aforementioned hut, a guy raking seaweed, and the raft Tom Hanks used in the movie Cast Away, which was filmed on a nearby island.
If you'd walked south for a couple of minutes, you'd have hit something approaching civilisation only more relaxing!
21 - Dr Dreadful
...its proximity to the "Meeting of the waters," which marks the joining of the Negro and Solimoes rivers, thus forming the Amazon itself.
Where the Amazon actually starts is a bit subjective, isn't it, Clav? Last September I was in Iquitos, Peru (noteworthy as being the largest city in the world which cannot be reached by road), which is on the Amazon and about 1500 miles upstream of Manaus.
22 - Clavos
Where the Amazon actually starts is a bit subjective, isn't it, Clav?
Actually, I think the scientists agree that the Amazon proper starts at the confluence of the Marañon and Ucayali rivers, which is upstream of Iquitos, near the town of Nauta. Even so, the furthest upstream headwaters are actually in the Andes West of Lake Titicaca. According to Wikipedia:
"The most distant source of the Amazon was firmly established in 1996,[3] 2001[4] and 2007[5] as a glacial stream on a snowcapped 5,597 m (18,360 ft) peak called Nevado Mismi in the Peruvian Andes, roughly 160 km (99 mi) west of Lake Titicaca and 700 km (430 mi) southeast of Lima. The waters from Nevado Mismi flow into the Quebradas Carhuasanta and Apacheta, which flow into the Río Apurímac which is a tributary of the Ucayali which later joins the Marañón to form the Amazon proper. (While this is the point at which most geographers place the beginning of the Amazon proper, in Brazil the river is known at this point as the Solimões das Águas). Soon thereafter the darkly colored waters of the Rio Negro meet the sandy colored Rio Solimões, and for over 6 km (4 mi) these waters run side by side without mixing."
However, as noted, in Brasil, the river is named the Solimoes until the Meeting of the Waters, near Manaus.
I could have been a bit more explicit in my original post.
23 - Leroy
Libertarians are just republicans, who, ashamed of the republican record, seek to differentiate themselves.
Otherwise they slavishly follow the republicans.
24 - STM
Doc: "When we got to the place, it was just a hut and a wharf, with no sign of life."
Lol. No, Doc, you dopey pommy bugger. I meant the main seaplane base in Nadi, not on Castaway. There was nothing there, although the lone seaplane float sitting on the ground was a giveaway.
The plane pulled up right out the front of the resort on Castaway. We were there for a week in 2001, in the furthest bure from the resort, way up the beach. My daughter and I had thongs on (no, not fragrant underwear ... flip-flips to Americans!!) when we hopped off the seaplane but my wife was worried about her feet getting wet :) Eventually she took off her shoes.
And Ruve. Ho ho. Very funny.
25 - Dr Dreadful
Well, we took the catamaran out, Stan, so I wouldn't know about Nadi International Seaplane Port. It was a nice ride. Took about 90 minutes and we stopped to drop people off at a few of the other resorts on the way out. Got to see some interesting sights including a sandbar. Yes, yes, I know I can go to any estuary near me and see a sandbar, but this one actually was a bar... on a sandbar. LOL.