Spells for Democracy<\/a>, not to mention virtually every mainstream media outlet in existence. Much of it is controversy-driven, namely comments by Republican Senatorial candidate Rand Paul and Fox News personality John Stossel that the Civil Rights Act of 1964 should be repealed because it infringes on individuals\u2019 rights to only do business with who they choose.<\/p>\nI commented on the posts on WitchVox and The Gods Are Bored. Here in my own space I want to go into a little more detail.<\/p>\n
There is much that is attractive in libertarianism. Its emphasis on personal responsibility is admirable. Its call for smaller government at a time when public debt is reaching alarming proportions is at least worthy of consideration. And its call for ending the War on Drugs is just good common sense.<\/p>\n
But as with any political philosophy, when decisions are made based on ideological purity rather than on their real effect on real people, real people end up suffering more real pain than they should.<\/p>\n
Let\u2019s use the repeal of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 as an example. Libertarians claim that racism is abhorrent and that they would never patronize a business who refused to sell to minorities. I\u2019ll take them at their word, though I find their timing curious. But others would patronize such a business, some mindlessly and others gleefully. As someone who grew up in the South in the 60s and 70s, I can confidently say that without the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and other civil rights legislation of that era, our improving-but-still-far-from-equal society would look a lot more like 1960 than 2010.<\/p>\n
Libertarians say as bad as racial discrimination is, government coercion is worse. They draw a clear line between laws that prohibit direct harm (such as laws against murder and robbery, which infringe on the freedom of the victim) and laws such as civil rights that mandate actions to prevent harm. I\u2019m no libertarian theorist, but as I understand it, there are two main reasons behind this.<\/p>\n
The first is the \u201cslippery slope\u201d argument: once the precedent of some government intrusion into private transactions is established, there\u2019s nothing to stop full government control of all private transactions. I hear the same thing from opponents of marriage equality: if we let two men marry, what\u2019s to stop three men from marrying or a man marrying a goat or some other absurdity \u2013 \u201cwhere do we draw the line?\u201d My standard response is \u201cI don\u2019t know where we draw the line but we shouldn\u2019t draw it here.\u201d<\/p>\n
Very little in life is an all or nothing proposition, and consistency is overrated. I loved listening to Bill Parcells when he was coach of the Dallas Cowboys. One day a reporter asked him if the way he was treating a particular player was consistent with his treatment of other players. Parcells\u2019 answer was \u201cI\u2019m not interested in being consistent \u2013 I\u2019m interested in being right.\u201d<\/p>\n
The harm (if any) to the liberty of business owners caused by civil rights laws is far exceeded by the harm done to minorities in their absence. This is the moral argument against absolute libertarianism.<\/p>\n
The second major libertarian argument is that of ownership. \u201cWho owns you?\u201d is a hook question asked by one libertarian recruiter. The correct libertarian answer is that you own you, and because you own you, you have the right to do whatever you please with whoever you please, so long as you don\u2019t actively harm someone else (indirect harm doesn\u2019t seem to count). And the implication is that if you don\u2019t own you, then someone else does \u2013 if you\u2019re not free to refuse to sell to blacks or gays or Pagans, then you\u2019re not really free.<\/p>\n
I argue that no one owns you \u2013 not even you. Humans and other living beings are creatures of inherent worth and dignity, part of the Divine, children of the Goddess and God. To allow anyone to be owned \u2013 even if it\u2019s you owning you \u2013 reduces that person from a divine being of infinite value to a thing whose only value is its utility to someone with the surplus resources to purchase it.<\/p>\n
You may legally own a dog, but you don\u2019t have the right to beat or starve it \u2013 the dog has inherent value. You may own land, but you don\u2019t have the right to pollute it \u2013 the land has inherent value. This is the religious argument against absolute libertarianism.<\/p>\n
Libertarianism teaches classic American rugged individualism. This is a good thing \u2013 in small doses. Our species didn\u2019t move from caves to skyscrapers because of rugged individuals. We advanced because we learned to cooperate. The paradox of civilization is that by acting against our evolutionary urges and putting the common good ahead of personal good, we gain more personal good (and goods) than we ever could on our own.<\/p>\n
Humans are social animals, not lone wolves. Our laws and our social policies should reflect that reality.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s not hard to figure out the allure of libertarianism. Our economy is a mess and even those of us who are doing OK are nervous. Things got worse during eight years of Republican rule and it hasn\u2019t gotten substantially better under the Democrats. Libertarians (many of whom operate in the Republican party) offer an alternative.<\/p>\n
All political systems and philosophies must strike a balance between the rights of the individual, the rights of others, and the common good. Some libertarian ideas make sense and I\u2019d like to see them implemented. But as for the absolute libertarianism advocated by Rand Paul and John Stossel, no thank you.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I generally keep this blog away from politics, but libertarianism seems to be all the rage these days. I\u2019ve seen it show up on WitchVox, The Gods Are Bored, and Spells for Democracy, not to mention virtually every mainstream media outlet in existence. Much of it is controversy-driven, namely comments by Republican Senatorial candidate Rand […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1129,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-390","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n
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