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Class Struggle, Libertarian Style

By on November 5, 2008 6

some people protesting something Here at last (in PDF format – HTML versions to follow in futuro) are two broadly left-libertarian articles I wrote in the 90s that I’ve been promising for some time to post here. (The second one is broken into two parts because I can’t upload files greater than 5 MB.)

1. Immanent Liberalism: The Politics of Mutual Consent

2. Toward a Libertarian Theory of Class, Parts One and Two

[Originally published in Social Philosophy & Policy 12.2 (Summer 1995) and 15.1 (Summer 1998), respectively; © 1995 and 1998, Social Philosophy & Policy Foundation; posted by permission of the Foundation.]

The first article critiques mainstream liberalism for privileging indirect and hypothetical forms of consent over direct, actual consent; the second explores the relation between big government and big business and argues that the malign power of the latter depends mostly though not entirely on that of the former. Both articles attempt to overcome the dichotomy between “capitalist” and “socialist” versions of antistatist radicalism.

Obama Beats Ruwart, Barr, and NOTA! Oh Yeah, and That McCain Guy Too

By on November 5, 2008 0

More handouts for Wall Street - More troops for Afghanistan I’m more pleased than not with the results of yesterday’s election (meaning pleased that Obama won out over McCain, not pleased that we got ourselves yet another president). Sure, Obama is a corporate liberal whose policies are not really any less fascistic or imperialistic than McCain’s, but a) he at least seems less trigger-happy than McCain; b) culturally, his election is a satisfying slap in the face to racism and parochialism (it’s great to see a black person at last in the nation’s highest-profile and most influential job – I just wish the nation’s highest-profile and most influential job weren’t the goddamn presidency); and c) hell, if I have to listen to some guy’s speeches for the next four to eight years, just from an aesthetic standpoint it’ll be a relief to have them coming from someone who’s charismatic and articulate rather than from an irritating doofus. (Mind you, the argument could be made that from an anarchist standpoint it’s better to have an irritating doofus in the White House rather than someone charismatic and articulate – but I’m skeptical; we’ve had plenty of irritating doofuses in the White House over the last two centuries without any noticeable positive effect.)

To be sure, I also favour Obama’s immediate impeachment – but that’s nothing personal, it’s just business.

I did my civic doody and voted yesterday; I wrote in Ruwart for the top slot (the first time in 20 years that I haven’t voted for the LP nominee) and “none of the above” for all the other offices. (There was a Boston Tea Party write-in candidate for Senate in Alabama, but his platform did not persuade me.) I also voted against an amendment authorising the Alabama state government to dig itself deeper into its current financial mess by borrowing more rather than cutting spending. (It passed anyway.)

It looks like Barr ended up with about 485,000 votes. That’s better than any LP candidate has done recently – but it’s not way better, and it’s about the same as what Browne got in 1996 with less name recognition and a far more radical campaign. So although they’ll probably try to spin it as a vindication, the reformists’ adapt-to-win policy looks like a failure – and deservedly so. Sell your soul, get a crackerjack prize.

Yama, Lord of the Dead, Speaks

By on November 4, 2008 10

Happy Hallowe’en, three days late –

me as Yama, Lord of the Dead - photo credit to Keren Gorodeisky

– or Happy Vote-for-some-bozo Day, a day early.

What is the attitude of the democrat when political rights are under discussion? How does he regard the people when a legislator is to be chosen? Ah, then it is claimed that the people have an instinctive wisdom; they are gifted with the finest perception …. When it is time to vote, apparently the voter is not to be asked for any guarantee of his wisdom. His will and capacity to choose wisely are taken for granted. … Is there a class or a man who would be so bold as to set himself above the people, and judge and act for them? No, no, the people are and should be free. They desire to manage their own affairs, and they shall do so.

But when the legislator is finally elected – ah! then indeed does the tone of his speech undergo a radical change. The people are returned to passiveness, inertness, and unconsciousness; the legislator enters into omnipotence. Now it is for him to initiate, to direct, to propel, and to organize. Mankind has only to submit; the hour of despotism has struck.

(From Bastiat’s The Law.)

Cave Canem

By on October 20, 2008 1

I’m back from the Austrian bash in Mississauga, where I heard some good papers and toured the nature trail along the powerful-purty Credit River (which despite recent unpleasantness has not dried up!).

Credit River

Inter alia I heard an interesting story about John McCain; apparently DC’s two airports used to have an agreement whereby Dulles would specialise in flights to the west coast while National wouldn’t fly any farther than Dallas. But McCain was unhappy about this, since he would fly frequently to Phoenix and didn’t like having to trek out each time to the inconvenient Dulles instead of the nearby National; so he sponsored legislation forcing the airports to change their policy. But it would have looked bad, i.e. too obvious (despite causing less bother to the airports), to make the change only for Phoenix, so he required it to be made across the board. Ah yes, country first.

Speaking electionwise, for years the Libertarian Party has fumed about the two 19th-century parties’ candidates’ refusal to debate third-party candidates. But now apparently the LP’s current candidate, Bob Barr, “has made it clear that he will only debate Mr. Nader and no one else” – thereby scuttling the LP’s nearly four-decades-old cavekid and dog policy and undermining its ability to argue for its own inclusion in debates in the future. Barr keeps finding new ways to be even more of a disaster than I had predicted.

In less annoying news, this story (conical hat tip to LRC) contains the following intriguing passage:

Ancient, 26,000-year-old footprints made by a child and a dog at Chauvet Cave, France, support the pet notion. Torch wipes accompanying the prints indicate the child held a torch while navigating the dark corridors accompanied by a dog.

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