Libertarian Party: Worthless

Libertarian Party: Worthless

By Larken Rose
http://www.larkenrose.com/blogs/tmds-blog/1999.html

I'm sad to announce that the Libertarian Party is utterly worthless. Well, the fact that it was a political party vying for the throne made it not only worthless, but counter-productive, from the beginning. If you're waiting around for "government" to pass a "law" giving you permission to be free, then: a) you'll be waiting a long time, and b) you're not even free inside your own head yet. As long as you are begging any master to endorse your freedom, you will remain a slave.

But aside from that, my complaint today is that the Libertarian party has no real principles anymore. None. By its label, there is only one principle it should ever have had: the principle of non- aggression. That's what "libertarianism" is all about. It's a very simple, basic principle, and it is philosophically and morally sound. And it has been abandoned by the Libertarian Party. (No, this didn't just happen now, but it's getting more obvious.)

I just read an article, here on Freedom's Phoenix, where the Libertarian Party was, ironically, trying to warn people about how the Republican Party is not a friend of freedom. While that is quite true, the quotes from the Libertarian Party showed that it is no friend of freedom either. And a very simple phrase from the article is all the proof you need. It said that the Libertarian Party wants to "cut taxes," and push for "less government" and "more freedom." It's not that they oppose aggression in principle; it's that they want less aggression. How much less? Well, apparently it depends how much is "needed," and how much is "possible"--whatever that means.

There is a huge, fundamental difference between advocating less evil, and advocating no evil. Advocating a significant reduction in murder, rape, and armed robbery, is not the same as being opposed to such things entirely. Since "taxation" is a euphemism for extortion and robbery, done via violence and the threat of violence, the libertarian principle does not allow for any taxation at all. The anti-aggression principle is incompatible with any "taxation." Period.

Yet the Libertarian Party is out there talking about "lower taxes." While we're at it, how about if we have a platform of being for a 40% reduction in murder, a 50% reduction in rape, and--hey, let's get radical--a 70% reduction in car-jacking? After all, it would be extreme to advocate that we should have none of those things. So we'd better try to phase in that reduction in murder, and water down our opposition to rape, and be more moderate in our opposition to car-jacking. Because, after all, we need to win elections, and you can't do that if you have actual principles!

The Libertarian Party has ceased to be libertarian. They don't dare to bluntly describe what libertarianism entails, because that would scare too many potential voters, who have been thoroughly indoctrinated into the cult of state-worship. Instead of speaking about succinct, specific principles, Libertarian candidates and spokes-folk muddle around in more publicly acceptable generalities. They want less of this and more of that. Less than what? More than what? Where is the ultimate goal? What is the underlying principle?

Having basically abandoned the principle of non-aggression, by talking about "cutting" (not eliminating) "taxes," even if the Party magically won every seat in the cult called "government," it would accomplish exactly nothing. The Party would transform into what the Republican Party was in 1994: lots of pretend pro-freedom principles, followed by lots of real-world control-freak oppression.

"Now, now, we have to be practical, and do things slowly, and win people over, and yada, yada, yada." Bullpoop. When you drop the principle, in order to win public approval, your cause becomes worthless. If you don't even dare to bluntly say what you believe, and what your ultimate goal is, why should anyone expect you to act on what you (supposedly) believe? When you go on a road trip, is your goal to get closer to your destination, or to actually get there?

"So, Bob, where are you going on vacation?"

"Well, Chuck, I'm planning on traveling in the general direction of the Bahamas. I don't intend to actually get there, mind you, and I'll be moving really slowly, so as not to offend anyone. But I definitely want to move some in the general direction of the Bahamas."

The Libertarian Party doesn't like to talk about its ultimate end goal: a purely voluntary society. Why not? Because that's not its end goal anymore. Its end goal is to be in power, to be the new master--a more wise, benevolent master, but a master nonetheless. "Well, once we get into power, then we'll slowly do away with state aggression." Bull poop. They would do nothing of the sort. They've stopped even giving lip service to that goal, and are now pathetically wimpering about "lower taxes," and a "reduced" this and a "reformed" that.

In short, the Libertarian Party does not believe that you own yourself. They believe, just as strongly as every other political party does, that you are the property of the state. They claim to want the state to allow you to keep more of what you earn, and to grant you its holy permission (via its "laws") to have more say over your day-to-day life. Big deal. There is a difference between being nice to your slaves, and not having slaves. The Libertarian Party is now the Nice Slavemaster Party. And for some of us, trading in our iron shackles for softer, lighter plastic shackles, in pretty colors, is just not good enough.

Want to see an actual principle? Here's one:

You own yourself. No one has the right to take what you earn without your consent, even if they call their demands "law" and refer to the robbery as "taxation." Extortion and robbery, even when "legal," even when they are alleged to be "necessary," are illegitimate, and it is perfectly moral to avoid or resist being robbed by any means necessary. You don't need any law or other authoritarian decree to tell you that you own yourself, or to allow you to keep what you earn, or to otherwise be in charge of your own life.

When the Libertarian Party dares to say something like that, they'll have my respect again. As long as they keep watering down the truth to try to win people over, they will be just another bunch of opportunistic, aspiring politicians, who will accomplish nothing more than devouring the efforts and resources of people who long for freedom, without ever getting them one inch closer to it.

Larken Rose

http://www.larkenrose.com