The Divide

From "The Post Libertarian Moment Defined"

The next few Monday’s will be reprints of the sections that make up my new essay The Post-Libertarian Moment Defined which you can download in full by visiting postlibertarianmoment.com. I consider this essay of vital importance to anyone who calls (or as the case may be called) themselves “libertarian.”

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The Divide

Many will frame the current debate being between the Praxians and the LPMC, with the Praxians criticizing the rank-and-file LPMC member who wants to help his community and fight for human freedom. This is a lie. The divide in the liberty movement is not between the hundreds of LPMC members and the dozen or so Praxians. The divide the liberty movement is between those who would want to take political power, and those who want to make a political statement. Libertarians caught in a past moment believe it matters more that a pure libertarian message is broadcast than who will listen to such a message. The libertarian who wants to make a political statement is the libertarian only concerned with other libertarians. Politically speaking, this is a losing message because most people won’t end up libertarians. Most people don’t have the interest in political systems and economics that libertarians do, and therefore most people will never concern themselves with a political identity beyond a default categorization. For the libertarian who wants to make a political statement, this means their activist endeavors are ultimately masturbatory. Libertarians helping libertarians say libertarian things.

The libertarian who wants to take political power by contrast understands that if you want to help the millions of politically disenfranchised Americans who are part of the awakening right, you shouldn’t sound like the preachy progressive left they are escaping. The insights of libertarianism - namely the nature of the state and Austrian economics - are powerful weapons in the battle for human freedom and flourishing. The ideas are nothing without things like wealth, power, influence, community, and coalitions providing support. The libertarian who wants to take political power is a libertarian concerned with people whether or not they identify as libertarian. Mass conversion is not required to be a good member of your community and run for local office. Being the one people turn to in a crisis is worth infinitely more than being a “consistent” libertarian with no power. If libertarians do not learn this message and choose the path of political statements over the path of political power, the idea of human freedom will die within a generation. . .

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To read the whole essay download your copy at postlibertarianmoment.com