TheAgitator.com
Nannyism: A Left-Wing Disease?
Thursday, August 28th, 2003In line with the “libertarianism’s allies: left or right?” discussions we’ve been having lately, Colby Cosh has a nice piece making a case for the right. His basic argument is: conservatives view their favored varieties of social engineering as exceptional– they believe that usually people should be left alone– whereas leftists are just fine with social engineering from the get-go, and will pursue it without qualms in any and all areas of life.
This is certainly true of many conservatives and many leftists. But there are plenty of strains of conservatism that endorse the state as a general-purpose social engineer. The High Tory conservatism of George “Statecraft as Soulcraft” Will is one example. Theocratic conservatism of the Christian Coalition variety is another (though not all Christian social conservatives are theocrats; some, like Joe Sobran, are principled anti-statists). And there’s the neoconservatism of many converts from Communism; the “temporary” need for big government to fight the latest round in the never-ending Perpetual War for Perpetual Peace reeks to me of the “temporary dictatorship of the proletariat”.
Then, too, there are leftist traditions that start from a general principle that people should be left alone and go off the rails only when discussing “exploitation of the workers” and the like. The left-anarchism of Emma Goldman and Paul Goodman comes to mind. Among modern left-wing pundits, I would say that Lewis Lapham and Alexander Cockburn fit this mold.
It is possible to frame the case for individual liberty either as a defense of ancient tradition or as a revolutionary struggle on behalf of the oppressed. The American Revolution saw plenty of both– compare the Declaration of Independence to Paine’s “The Rights of Man”. Each has significant dangers. But I don’t see that one is necessarily more inclined than the other to the kind of puritanical control-freakism that Cosh’s piece so rightly denounces.
I don’t understand why “libertarians” have sided with the GOP. The GOP offers neither social nor fiscal libertarianism. The party is controlled by the anti-thesis of libertarians: religious fundamentalists and Big Brothers.
The GOP gives lip service to “smaller government”, but cuts taxes (for a select few) and then increases spending (also known as, “tax increases for future generations”). USA Today reported that Republican states have increased state spending MORE than Democratic states:
http://www.thedesertsun.com/news/stories/national/1053312966.shtml
“State legislatures controlled by Republicans increased spending an average of 6.54 percent per year from 1997-2002, compared with 6.17 percent for legislatures controlled by Democrats.”
Funny I heard that the GOP was being controlled by the Vast NeoCon Conspiracty. Seems everyone has a different story.
More accurately, I think the traditional association of Democrat with liberal and Republican with conservative is outmoded and inaccurate.
Unfortunately, neither of those parties has noticed yet, and while the Republicans are willing to make compromises on some issues within the party, the Democrats seem increasingly fractured by the pull of different special interest groups.
Not saying either is right. Personally, I wish old George would drop the Victory act and the Patriot act and keep up what he’s doing in Iraq.
But that’s me. Who do I vote for? The only thing that bugs me about Bush is this wrong-headed Homeland security thing, and the Democrats thing TIA’s a great idea too!
And yet as bad as the GOP is the Democrats are really no better (but no worse). They’re the ones who seem to lack understanding that there is a difference between the public and private spheres of society, and also aren’t as good on basic liberty issues as many libertarians now seem to think.
I think we just have to accept that the vast majority of people in all demographics of all nations on this planet tend to hold very anti-libertarian views. Given this, expect very little from either party as they go for where the bulk of votes are - the stupid, petty masses.
Geez Swamp, ya took the words right outta my mouth! The GOP acts like we should be in their pocket and I find that idea reppelant. They talk about defunding programs but propose vouchers for religious schools and they’re all over it. The war in Iraq? They’re telling us that a billion dollars of our money is going there PER WEEK but knowing them it’s actually three times that. And who is the money going to? A handful of rich pals of theirs….what happened to all of that rhetoric about giving MY money back to ME?
And the “liberty” part of libertarian? I’ve never seen any left leaning administration pull the kind of crap that this one has. Oh, it has to be this way because of 9/11? Ashcroft is busy right now clamping down on PORNOGRAPHY! You know, it seems to me that he’d have his hands full chasing terrorists but he spends his time busting cancer patients for smoking pot and covering up the tits of statues! How can *any* libertarian align themselves with this crowd of self righteous prudes?
I think the point that everyone has illustrated is that Libertarians must make their own way because the philosophy is not carried by either major party. The Dems and the Repubs are equally guilty in their cafeteria approach to civil liberties.
Why would you compromise your philosophy and support a group that really does not welcome your point of view?
Toshiro, I agree about the Repubs and Dems going for the vote of the “stupid, petty masses.” My biggest concern with Dean is that the “stupid, petty masses” will hear “medical treatment for all people paid for by the governemt” and run to the polls. Can you imagine the number of voters he would bring in on that one card?
Our biggest threat in America is ignorance and indifference on the part of the voters.
Yeah, well, as far as I can tell we’re all petty stupid masses- even libertarians. Some of us are more equal than others in this regard, of course.
Libertarians don’t have natural allies who are successful in the major political parties. (I sometimes wonder if any particular libertarian has allies among libertarians- but that’s a different issue). Support the GOP or the Donks as you will, based on some particular policy you care about. But don’t make the mistake of thinking that either one is in favor of government playing a smaller role in our lives- if they were they would have chosen a different line of work.
It’s a mistake to think otherwise, I think. A good example of why it is a mistake is David Brin’s famous speech to big-L libertarians- a powerful argument for unrestrained socialism, and world government, that was applauded loudly by a Libertarian convention. A demonstration that, while libertarians might not be sheep, some of them are quite willing to play the goat.
The funny thing is- the one place that libertarianism resonates with most people requires very little policy discussion- people don’t like to be screwed with, and resent it when they are.
“conservatives view their favored varieties of social engineering as exceptional– they believe that usually people should be left alone”
This guy is a jackass. What he’s really saying that conservatives believe that people should be left alone–unless, of course, they are doing things that conservatives don’t like.
I don’t recall any liberals decrying the Supreme Court’s decision in Lawrence v. Texas a couple of months ago.
I don’t entirely agree with Colby on this one, but I’d like to defend him against the charge of jackass- I’m inclined to think that he is “the world’s greatest blogger”. ‘Course I suppose it’s possible to be both.
“I don’t understand why “libertarians” have sided with the GOP.”
Um, so-called “libertarians” are generally “Annie get your gun” types. In other words, they believe that the GOP will secure their right to carry nucular weapons in public.
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