Difference between revisions of "What Is Libertarianism?"

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(A Rhetoric Of Liberty)
(A Rhetoric Of Liberty)
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Who can reject "liberty"?  That makes it a powerful rhetorical tool; as long as you don't start getting specific.  Different people have different ideas of liberty, and can divide over those issues.  The defense against attempts to get specific is "equal liberty", but that rhetoric also begs important questions.  If we all had equal liberty to kill each other, would we want such liberty?
 
Who can reject "liberty"?  That makes it a powerful rhetorical tool; as long as you don't start getting specific.  Different people have different ideas of liberty, and can divide over those issues.  The defense against attempts to get specific is "equal liberty", but that rhetoric also begs important questions.  If we all had equal liberty to kill each other, would we want such liberty?
  
"Liberty" unspecified is vague enough to justify any atrocity.  We routinely see libertarians promoting Barry Goldwater's "extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice."  In the name of liberty, John Galt plans genocides dwarfing those of Communist states in "Atlas Shrugged".  In actual history, liberty to own slaves was a frequent claim.<ref>Joseph Harding Underwood, [http://books.google.com/books?id=1e4tAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA428&lpg=PA428&dq=%22liberty+to+own+slaves%22&source=bl&ots=Jnr_iwgrtU&sig=NouHizar0qO-keBi8H-pdOz3mVM&hl=en&ei=8-66TN2PO8T38AbTr7CZDw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CBIQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=%22liberty%20to%20own%20slaves%22&f=false The Distribution of Ownership]</ref><ref>Doug Linder, [http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/conlaw/convention1787.html The Constitutional Convention of 1787]"Across the country, the cry "Liberty!" filled the air.  But what liberty? Few people claim to be anti-liberty, but the word "liberty" has many meanings.  Should the delegates be most concerned with protected liberty of conscience, liberty of contract (meaning, for many at the time, the right of creditors to collect debts owed under their contracts), or the liberty to hold property (debtors complained that this liberty was being taken by banks and other creditors)?  Moreover, the cry for liberty could mean two very different things with respect to the slave issue--for some, the liberty to own slaves needed protection,  while for others (those more able to see through black eyes), liberty meant ending the slavery."</ref>  Liberty to head your own family and religious liberty excused beating wives and disobedient children, sometimes fatally.
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"Liberty" unspecified is vague enough to justify any atrocity.  We routinely see libertarians promoting Barry Goldwater's "extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice."  In the name of liberty, John Galt plans genocides dwarfing those of Communist states in "Atlas Shrugged".  In actual history, liberty to own slaves was a frequent claim.<ref>Joseph Harding Underwood, [http://books.google.com/books?id=1e4tAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA428&lpg=PA428&dq=%22liberty+to+own+slaves%22&source=bl&ots=Jnr_iwgrtU&sig=NouHizar0qO-keBi8H-pdOz3mVM&hl=en&ei=8-66TN2PO8T38AbTr7CZDw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CBIQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=%22liberty%20to%20own%20slaves%22&f=false The Distribution of Ownership]</ref><ref>Doug Linder, [http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/conlaw/convention1787.html The Constitutional Convention of 1787]
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"Across the country, the cry "Liberty!" filled the air.  But what liberty? Few people claim to be anti-liberty, but the word "liberty" has many meanings.  Should the delegates be most concerned with protected liberty of conscience, liberty of contract (meaning, for many at the time, the right of creditors to collect debts owed under their contracts), or the liberty to hold property (debtors complained that this liberty was being taken by banks and other creditors)?  Moreover, the cry for liberty could mean two very different things with respect to the slave issue--for some, the liberty to own slaves needed protection,  while for others (those more able to see through black eyes), liberty meant ending the slavery."</ref>  Liberty to head your own family and religious liberty excused beating wives and disobedient children, sometimes fatally.
  
 
"Liberty" is the rhetorical tool of choice that unites libertarians: it can back any claim they make, no matter how bizarre.  Libertarians have no single claim in common except this rhetoric, and they can gloss over their conflicting beliefs through the persuasion of their own rhetoric of liberty.
 
"Liberty" is the rhetorical tool of choice that unites libertarians: it can back any claim they make, no matter how bizarre.  Libertarians have no single claim in common except this rhetoric, and they can gloss over their conflicting beliefs through the persuasion of their own rhetoric of liberty.

Revision as of 13:13, 17 October 2010