Back

I'm back.  The in-laws are gone and all is right with the world.

In other parts of my head:

It seems that there is a bit of a problem brewing.  The libertarianism camp has been growing.  As the political and economic situation worsens in the US, people who are disenfranchised seek answers from third party sources.  This is nothing new.  It's happened before in the US and elsewhere under similar circumstances.  Third parties grow when the existing parties have nothing to offer the populace.  Sometimes the third party becomes an new permanent party, like the Republicans did in the mid 1800's.

The swing to third parties is nothing new, or even note worthy in a political sense unless the numbers of people switching is enough to swing an election.  The Libertarian Party (LP) has never been able to pull off a major election victory.  So what's the big deal?  It seems that there are people who are going over to the LP, who are not "true believers".  They are the mainstream disenfranchised.  They are not going over because they have engaged in a sincere intellectual evaluation of their political beliefs.  They are going over in a sort of modern day antidisestablishmentarian fit. 

For about 2 months I've been following the on again off again subject of "debate" about what it is to be a "true libertarian" over at Lew Rockwell.  I understand that any political/philosophical movement needs to define its self.  I believe that any group should have a basic cohesive set of beliefs that are common to all members.  Those common beliefs are part of the cohesiveness of purpose that hold the organization together. 

Being against the disestablishment of the current political structure of the United States is not what the LP is about.  That's why the "true believers" over at Lew Rockwell are trying to build a protective wall around the faithful.  The LP isn't a political party that is economically responsible while being socially liberal.  They are not a call to establish America the way things were once upon a time.  

While I respect the idealism, and the necessary function of defining the "faith" for the benefit of the "faithful", I don't have much respect for the self proclaimed gatekeepers of the libertarian movement.  Strict Anarcho-Capitalism on a global scale is now, and will always be a pipe dream.  The only way it will ever and this is only in theory, happen is if a country tries it and are so materially successful that the rest of the world decides to immediately implement it.  Of course as soon as they do, someone will decide that they can better their nation by invading their more prosperous neighbors and we will be right back to feudal based nationalism in about a generation.

Which is one of the reasons why I engage in floccinaucinihilipilification where the LP is concerned.




*There you have it my friends, your assiduous blog host has done it again.  I have successfully used not one but two arcane sesquipedalian, oops make that three, words in a post.  If you feel you have gotten your monies worth today you can make a contribution to my pay pal account.  Of course if you're hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobic you may not have enjoyed this post that much.