A few years ago, when the QandO blog launched - with much fanfare - a new "Neo Libertarian" movement, several people immediately spotted the fatal flaw in their plan. That plan was, basically, to get libertarians to participate in mainstream political discourse with the goal of gradually influencing it in a libertarian direction.
OK, that's a really generous interpretation. What their plan really meant was that they would pre-emptively concede every substantive argument, abandon any libertarian principle, and re-orient their positions to - maybe - slightly libertarianward of whatever seemed at the time to be the status-quo. It meant redefining their principles so that they became not something absolute, but something relative to whatever was the popular flavor of the moment.
As a strategy, it might seem viable, even practical. The flaw was that in moving their principles, they lost any standard by which to measure "libertarianward". Think of it like making a compass that always points to itself, instead of to north. Try navigating your way out of the wilderness with that. Oh, but at least they're moving!
I knew where they were headed from the start, but I'm repeatedly appalled at just how quickly they're getting there. Today, I see from Billy's link, (I can't bear to read it on a daily basis, nor even to link to it directly) that one of their star bloggers has put out an article about nationalized health care. Is it about how to stop it from happening? No. Is it about how to delay it's happening? No. Is it about how to react if it does happen? No. It's about what form it the program should take.
I commented there, in part:
And what power is it they're seeking? Not to rule the world, not to gain a position of power from which they can decree freedom for all, not even the attainment of one lonely elected office. No, the only power they are looking for is so petty, so trivial and pathetic, that it's downright frightening to think that any person could sink this low to attain it.
All they want is for their vote to count.
For that pyrrhic victory, for that superficial, delusional, and momentary good feeling, they're willing to throw away everything they believe in. They're even willing to let others determine the content of their vote just so someone whose power they quake in awe before will grant them the honor of pretending, just for one fleeting moment, to listen to it.
They claim to represent some new movement based on libertarian thought. For a wink and a smile from the only people they think really matter, they're willing to throw all of it under the bus. For the desperate hope that maybe they'll be safely ensconced in some inner circle when the boots come down, they're willing to encourage the rest of us to fall on our swords.
They're not the first, and they won't be the last.
OK, that's a really generous interpretation. What their plan really meant was that they would pre-emptively concede every substantive argument, abandon any libertarian principle, and re-orient their positions to - maybe - slightly libertarianward of whatever seemed at the time to be the status-quo. It meant redefining their principles so that they became not something absolute, but something relative to whatever was the popular flavor of the moment.
As a strategy, it might seem viable, even practical. The flaw was that in moving their principles, they lost any standard by which to measure "libertarianward". Think of it like making a compass that always points to itself, instead of to north. Try navigating your way out of the wilderness with that. Oh, but at least they're moving!
I knew where they were headed from the start, but I'm repeatedly appalled at just how quickly they're getting there. Today, I see from Billy's link, (I can't bear to read it on a daily basis, nor even to link to it directly) that one of their star bloggers has put out an article about nationalized health care. Is it about how to stop it from happening? No. Is it about how to delay it's happening? No. Is it about how to react if it does happen? No. It's about what form it the program should take.
I commented there, in part:
Do y’all ever wonder about just how power (or the quest for it) corrupts, and how the people being corrupted can move along it inch by inch without ever realizing what it is they are slouching towards? Or away from?
And what power is it they're seeking? Not to rule the world, not to gain a position of power from which they can decree freedom for all, not even the attainment of one lonely elected office. No, the only power they are looking for is so petty, so trivial and pathetic, that it's downright frightening to think that any person could sink this low to attain it.
All they want is for their vote to count.
For that pyrrhic victory, for that superficial, delusional, and momentary good feeling, they're willing to throw away everything they believe in. They're even willing to let others determine the content of their vote just so someone whose power they quake in awe before will grant them the honor of pretending, just for one fleeting moment, to listen to it.
They claim to represent some new movement based on libertarian thought. For a wink and a smile from the only people they think really matter, they're willing to throw all of it under the bus. For the desperate hope that maybe they'll be safely ensconced in some inner circle when the boots come down, they're willing to encourage the rest of us to fall on our swords.
They're not the first, and they won't be the last.
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