(Paper) Thin Libertarians
…you cannot protect the value of respecting each other’s liberties with the value of respecting each other’s liberties. That value has to come from somewhere…
David French & the Vapors of Civic Virtue Escaping from a Mystery Box, Douglas Wilson (video)
It has been a while since I have written something directly and specifically about the non-aggression principle and libertarian political philosophy. This blog started that way, and soon enough I figured out that it was not the foundation for a society that respected liberty. In other words, paraphrasing Wilson, you cannot protect the value of liberty by using the value of liberty.
This could have been written by Hans Hoppe – he has written along these lines more than once. Hoppe is, like Wilson, an outcast in respectable circles because he notes that a society that expects to achieve and maintain liberty will have to use values other than liberty to defend liberty. In other words, paraphrasing Hoppe, sometimes you have to forcefully throw the bums out.
As I have noted: my libertarian society will not look libertarian to many on the outside. You want sex orgies on your front lawn? No, not in my libertarian society – I don’t care that your front lawn is your private property. Such a libertarian society will not retain liberty for long.
Of course, the paper thin libertarian will retort: “you can just make the rules such that those who don’t voluntarily agree can’t join.” Yes. But this is my point: my “rules” won’t look libertarian to most libertarians.
This is where I came to grow weary of those who screamed “thin libertarian” as the path to liberty. Now, admittedly, I once believed such things. Libertarianism for children, as a good friend and well-respected (in our circles) libertarian once described such as these to me. Yes, I once was this (look early in my archives…). But I try not to be too hard on myself; some of the “children” are much older than I am and have been in the movement much longer – and have yet to mature.
It was through Hoppe that I came to understand that something deeper was required as foundation if one was after liberty. I don’t recall if he put it exactly this way, but I do recall that he said something like you may occasionally have to throw the bums out if you want to preserve the liberty of which you are after.
In other words, Hoppe’s libertarian society will not seem libertarian to the bums (lib
Article from LewRockwell
