Wednesday, April 24, 2013

You are not a REAL Libertarian

It is true enough that I rarely go to Libertarian Party meetings anymore.  There are lots of reasons.  And about half of them can be found in this video...


Neanderbill and I were talking about this just the other day, in fact.  We are just not welcome.  Here's why...A whole lot of people have this view, literally, of the Nolan Chart.



And, yes, by that standard, I'm a socialist. To see if YOU are a socialist, take the quiz!

UPDATE:  Let's be careful.  1.  I'm a libertarian (small l). 2.  I consider myself a Libertarian (big L).  I'm registered LP, and I contribute to the party and to candidates.  3.  The point is that I often get TOLD by LP folks that I don't belong. 

We spend more time checking for "yo papiss, pliss!" at ideological checkpoints then we do actually trying to grow the party.  So I just stay home and write stuff.

12 comments:

Doc Hobbs said...

There is nothing like a good ideological purity test, strictly constrained to the one small corner, to purge those wandering souls ;-)

Steven H. Newton said...

This has been my biggest headache in actually trying to build a functional state LP. The grognards who have always been there are effectively purists. They want to win elections and change the government, but they are unwilling to accept people with 85% of the same beliefs as allies. I have yet to crack this code.

Gerardo said...

And, of course, those would be the folks getting "sphinctered" if what they professed was ever actually implemented.

MK said...

Painfully true. I gave up with my local lib society (2 meetings) when it was clearly just a safety net for seatbelt-obsessed kooks who revelled in being marginal.


Gordon said...

I appreciate the work that you, Russ, and the folks at Learn Liberty do. I would bet that those who engage in the most self-righteous behavior in the LP are the same ones who become the most upset about the self-righteous behavior of the extremists in other parties. They fail to see how hypocritical their behavior is and how badly they hurt their own cause. I hope that at some point the LP can wrestle power away from those who engage in such behavior.

Anonymous said...

You're right. Most libertarians are not in the top corner of the Nolan chart. And libertarians in the top corner are often unapologetic by excluding those they perceive to be in any other area.

But that doesn't change the fact that many, dare I say most, of the non-extreme libertarians, including the BHLs, stereotype and mischaracterize and insult the top corner libertarians as sexist, racist, stone-hearted autists. The core difference between the top-corner and every other segment of the Nolan chart is that the top corner does not tolerate any aggression, while everyone else thinks there are times when it is justified.

***For an analogy***, it is like that the top corner believes slavery is always wrong, but everyone else (to varying degrees) believes there are times when it makes sense to enslave someone. If someone truly believes that slavery is abhorrent, then they will never condone or comprimise with anyone who wishes to justify slavery. But the slavery apologists all chastise the abolitionists for being extreme, hateful, arrogant, sexist, racist, etc.....

At least, that's what it feels like to me.

Speedmaster said...

Hehe, I enjoyed that, thanks. :-)

Jon P said...

A lot of political movements,
a lot of *belief systems*,
owe their momentum,
their influence,
and their stagnant membership numbers,
to the greasy-haired dogmatics in their ranks.
I don't know of any party that has really cracked the "incrementally winning hearts and minds" code - they just set up a big tent and assure their different factions that their needs will be addressed, and they need not study up on who everyone else is in attendance, or care about their thing - just know that they're unhappy, just like you, because of Goldstein.

Liberty said...

Hayek would not qualify as a Real libertarian either.

Thomas W said...

I've seen the same ideological purity tests among Libertarians.

The other thing that killed the Libertarian party in the early 1980s (when the party had some momentum) was that a large percentage were single issue anti-tax, and the Reagan cuts were enough to pull them into the Republican camp. Combine this with a push for purity (and an unimpressive 1984 candidate) and the party lots its momentum.

dismal_scientist said...

I took the quiz and found out I am liberal. I was shocked. ;) I wish the question about cutting government followed up with asking which programs to cut, whether the government getting cut is local, state, or federal.

lowcountryjoe said...

Instead of describing myself as a hard-core libertarian-leaning Republican these days I now just call myself a minacrchist to avoid the confrontational types that go all Mises or Rothbard on me.