Libertarian Left or Right?
Libertarianism, if it be the promotion of individual liberty and individual responsibility, is neither left nor right. In the British context it is neither Conservative nor Labour. It is not, essentially, about a political form at all but rather the removal of ‘politics’, of controlling power and coercion, in the life of the individual. (If only the directors of the now almost deceased Libertarian Party had embraced that!)
Insofar as the Conservative Party has its roots, and demonstrates its adherence to those roots, in the old aristocracy that ruled and controlled day to day life, it is anti libertarian. However in the 21st Century, and in much of the 20th, it has been Labour that has been the party of centralised control and intervention in the daily lives of the people.
In fact the Conservatives of Thatcher would probably have had more in common with the Whigs of old, and the Labour control-freaks and micro managers more with the old control-centred Tories of two centuries ago.
For the last 50 years or so both parties have indeed been different flavour of the same stuff. Today even, Cameron is less conservative than Blair was when he came to ‘power’, which he did by appealing to the popularity of conservative sentiment in the voters more effectively than the ‘depleted-Conservatives’ did in 1997.
During the 20 or so years before Labour’s return under Blair, and for some years after, freedom did regain that bit of a breathing space because individuals within the Conservative Party had seen the individualistic beliefs they held dear, as well as simple, survivable reality, being dangerously eroded under old Labour. The changes in sentiment the Conservatives introduced after being elected in 1979 were not eradicated by New Labour until the collective public memory of why the Conservatives had been voted in had been obfuscated, re-written, and had faded. To repeat, the policies did not hit the buffers, the Party did after it abandoned those policies.
And now the forces that rolled back centralised control have been largely contained and neutralised and that breathing space for freedom is closing up very, very fast. The spirit of centralised controlled as exemplified previously by the USSR rides again with a whole new dimension on totalitarian terror from a different quarter; out of the Middle East and Middle Ages.
Politics is a shifting game and will always be open to deception. It is inherently dishonest being as it is, about power, and the manipulation, coercion and control of others.
Further, all too often one sees political debate revelling in tricks of thought and speech rather than with substance. It’s about winning rather than addressing the truth.
However it would seem there would be more hope to promote libertarian agendas within the Conservative Party than within Labour. There is a spirit that has flourished from time to time amongst some of those in the Conservative Party that is far more libertarian than could ever be expected in Labour, unless that party were to go beyond the robust addressing of reality that occurred during Blair’s first few years in power, and that probably actually came from Alistair Campbell, whatever his world view, and Labour actually seriously committed itself to the truth.
Self reliance, responsibility for one’s self and actions, is far more in keeping with those who have built the nation rather than those who have used it to fund themselves, their programmes and their Utopian hopes.
John B
Original on Outspoken Rabbit
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November 4, 2011 at 11:00 -
The only party unlikely to renege on even vaguely libertarian aims is UKIP. The tired old LibLabCon behemoths have no new ideas, no outstanding MPs & few interests outside of of their cosy little cliques (until a few weeks before they have to pretend to care for the electorate, so they can continue “business as usual”, i.e., ignoring the wishes of the majority & enriching themselves).
You are very optimistic thinking any of these clapped-out old parties would be open to libertarian ideas: their first question would be, “what’s in in for us?”-
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November 4, 2011 at 17:43 -
I’m not really too sure what UKIP stand for. We have the entertaining speeches by Nigel Farage, fine, but UKIP have never had to deliver.
I get the impression of our poor country, ie us, being a kind of slow, tired and very old draught animal, dragging along a huge cart of laws, regulations, taxes, ineffective government departments, officials, quangos and hangers on. A massive accretion going back to William the Bastard.
Every few years a new driver with a different coloured shirt gets on board. Nothing is unloaded, yet more burdens, laws and taxes are tied on top, and the eu is having a ride as well, to make sure we follow the approved operating procedures.
And we drag along, slower and slower…..By pure coincidence this morning I picked up a copy of Farage’s ‘Fighting Bull’ that’s laid around unread since last Christmas. Just a quick dip in was enough.
He almost makes you believe we could free ourselves.
Almost.
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November 4, 2011 at 12:00 -
“All too often one sees political debate revelling in tricks of thought and speech rather than with substance. It’s about winning rather than addressing the truth.”
That’s it in a nutshell. It’s become much worse over the last couple of decades, and your pointing the finger in the direction of Alistair Campbell, or at least in the direction of the ‘news management’ he espoused is a fair accusation of one of the worst culprits.
Another of the problems is the University practice of debating, when speakers are expected to present arguments about things they don’t even believe, with the intention of making them better debaters. Not sure that’s really wise – a wonderful, rousing speech about a load of bollocks is still a load of bollocks, however well delivered.
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November 4, 2011 at 12:12 -
If there is one simple message I would like politicians to take heed of it is this:
“Stop treating adults like children and children like adults”.
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November 4, 2011 at 15:12 -
I think the days of governments forming events have gone, now we are seeing events forming governments.
Instead of voting in MP’s we should have a board of directors comprised of the best business brains in the country and call it UK PLC.
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November 4, 2011 at 16:48 -
Saul, that’s my line. I’ve been saying that for years.
The other thing, their overriding goal should be to make it pay without having to extract tax from the shareholders – the public.
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November 5, 2011 at 08:03 -
I think you’ll find that’s the pro-EU line, run it like a business and get rid of all the spurious overheads. Centralise everything in Brussels and it’s bound to be ‘cheaper’!
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November 4, 2011 at 20:25 -
Labour have most in common with totalitarian communists.
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November 5, 2011 at 01:24 -
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November 5, 2011 at 07:29 -
“…….in the old aristocracy that ruled and controlled day to day life, it is anti libertarian…..”
I think that this premise is incorrect. Aristocratic rulers didn’t try to control day to day life, there was no coercion and no enforcement – it was a common moral code of decency that bound society together. A miner’s wife was just as proud of her house as a duchess was, and an earl would castigated for ‘breach of promise’ just as an clerk would’ve been.
You’re right about Tories though – they are intellectually far more honest and principled than Labour MPs……..witness the new intake of MPs challenging the will of the PM; that kind of thing never happened with the intakes of 1997 and 2001.
The last paragraph is 100% correct.
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