Libertarian Conservatives

Libertarians and conservatives seem so very close on several issues that it may at times be difficult to distinguish between the two. Yet certain distinctions can be made, and they may be all the difference in the world between the camps.

Perhaps the most serious difference lies in the areas of freedom and justice. Libertarians occasionally talk as though justice is the most important thing which human society ought to strive towards yet almost unfailingly insist that the measure of an act is the amount of freedom it allows. The problem is that freedom ultimately is a means rather than an end, and while it is easy to think that the society with the most freedom may (and the word may cannot be stressed enough) produce the most justice, that surely cannot be a given. A hedonistic society such as what the Western world sometimes appears hell bent for leather determined to make of itself surely welcomes a great (one is tempted to say an absurd) amount of freedom among the people. Do libertarians sufficiently address what that must mean?

Seeing as they are only seriously opposed to areas of direct and physical violence against persons, it is easy to say no. This isn't to say they oppose any and all nonviolent yet repugnant actions; we presume they are against libel and slander, for example. But do they take it far enough? Are there areas where, even though there may appear a lack of real violence against the person or society, there is yet a nonphysical violence which may yet hurt individuals and nations?

The conservative says yes. When society allows repugnant actions to be legal then it had begun teaching individuals and nations that the immoral is in fact moral. It begins to tear the fabric of civil society into little more than strands, each strand being each person, each person being free to do what they want, outside of overt violence, of course, without censure. When that happens, how long may it be before the strands cannot support even themselves? Likely as not, the moment they become too individual, too little concerned with the larger society. What will happen then? The strands that get together by whatever means will dominate the rest. That probably won't mean much for freedom, let alone justice.

Without a sense of true justice, decidedly non violent yet unjust actions will be seen as mere aspects of personal freedom. If it doesn't harm anyone directly and immediately it must, in the libertarian view, be allowed.

Such is a shallow definition of justice. But when a creed is based on mere freedom rather than on actual right and wrong, what can we expect in the long run but decay? If the libertarians wish to be taken seriously then they must accept that freedom isn't the end all be all of human actions. Until that happens, they will always be on the margin of political society. Or, worse, they will lead all of society to its destruction.

Libertarians sell Conservatives a Bill of Goods

One area which libertarians pride themselves on is that they hold few positions on the issues. As such you can, in theory, be both Catholic and libertarian. You just can't force your Catholicism on others. Similarly, libertarianism is sold to conservatives in general. One can be anti-abortion and still be libertarian because there is no libertarian position on abortion. It sounds good, and if it weren't for one teensy trifle we might actually accept the premise.

The trifle, you say? Well, simply that libertarians do hold positions on the issues and to become libertarian, you must hold those positions too.

Yes, before someone argues otherwise, they do hold positions on the issues, even issues such as abortion. They think a woman who wants one should be allowed to have one. This is not a neutral stance: this is being pro-abortion. It's no different than the tired liberal saw (which many if not all seem to accept) which states, "I'm personally opposed, but..." If you believe that abortion should be allowable then you are in favor of it and that's you're actual position on the matter. To say anything less is disingenuous, quite frankly.

Abortion is but one example, so there's no point running down the litany of relative political positions. Yet there is a further problem involving things such as abortion. If we can't work against it through the law and remain libertarian, then libertarianism becomes a shell. It asks us to give up on a very basic principle through which by surrendering we have violated our most basic and essential beliefs. It asks us to give up not only the vaunted individualism which the creed champions (a pretty obvious point when you think about it) it really asks us to give up our souls. How can we be people who believe in the dignity of others if we have no yardstick by which to grade human behavior?

Libertarians have positions on the issues; there could be no libertarian movement if this were not true. It's time they acknowledged as much, and played fair with Right Reason and human intellect.

Libertarianism at war with itself

Libertarianism is, in an odd sort of way, like communism. Both look good on paper, yet neither is practical.

You don't think so? Well, what about these concerns:

For libertarianism to sustain itself, it would require a guaranteed, eternal majority. This will not happen or, at best, it will only happen during short runs. People, being people, will use their free will and shoot libertarianism out of the sky.

It might work with an iron first under a benevolent dictator. But there are two problems with that. One, we see how that has worked for communism, and two, that also would rely on an eternal march of benevolent dictators. That won't happen either, and, further, would actually mock libertarianism.

Then there's the business of freedom. Libertarians preach it with an almost religious fervor. It's their end-all be-all. But 'I'm for freedom' isn't really a tenable position. It begs an entire litany of questions, not the least of which are questions like, freedom to do what, freedom to be what, and whether what we want are things we ought to want. Libertarians forget, or refuse to accept, that freedom is only a means. It is not an end. That is, unless you want total, complete freedom to do absolutely anything you want. To be sure, they don't believe that. They believe there are some limitations on human behavior. But note that that means they aren't actually in favor of freedom anyway because they do, when it suits them, restrict it.

Next there's the matter of how they might get their agenda in place. In the United States today that cannot happen except through revolution or politics. Yet they abhor politics and politicians, and even should they approve of a revolution (which would be dangerous as such things tend towards going out of control) and perhaps a contradiction within their philosophy. How can you force people to become libertarians against their will? You can't, outside of confessing that freedom is not without bounds. Unless, again, and we love hammering this point home, you don't believe in unfettered liberty.

At the end of the day, libertarian philosophy contradicts itself. We believe that is evident in the above comments. You simply cannot preach freedom as an end and then argue that it can be restricted in any way, shape, or form.

They sound good and they look good. Yet all they do is bang an empty drum.

Why Libertarianism is Wrong

There is a definite allure for libertarianism within the conservative movement. It would be quite easy to become one. Honest. So why should we conservatives not sign on?

A handful of critically important issues, for starters. As a group, libertarians support abortion. They don't care for an aggressive foreign policy either, and although they may make quite compelling arguments it's difficult to come around on the drug questions. Further, and this will sound very odd considering the source, they seem to have too much of a distrust of government. Like it or not, there are things which only a government can do. Keeping order, for one, and keeping potential enemies at bay with the aggressive measures necessary. Roads jump into the front of the mind as well. Yet libertarians are likely as not all right, at least in essence, on those subjects. The root problem with libertarianism as it stands today is the belief that the individual is the final arbiter of morality, the one who sets the standard for right and wrong.

No individual can hold this kind of power. We are not talking about the individual's right or ability to choose for himself among reasonable options, but you must notice that even that idea, the one on which we certainly base our freedoms, implies that our options must be reasonable and that therefore what makes our choices right is in fact something beyond our wishes. But the fact is that, on a practical level, wholly or entirely individual interpretation of right and wrong invites anarchy or worse: a might makes right society. Then on a philosophic level, it begs one very important question: if I, as an individual, can make up my own mind about people and things, why should I ever listen to you? No progress can be made from such a starting point in ethics, which certainly means nothing can be done in any other area either.

If libertarians were to admit that it is not the individual (or that weak sister, consensus) which dictates what can and cannot be true, that justice and rightness exist beyond the person and having a being of their own, we may reconsider libertarianism as a creed. Until then, they are as bad as liberals: they want what they want because they want it. It is a poor substitute for critical thought on critical issues.`

Libertarians, Freedom, and Justice

Libertarians and conservatives seem so very close on several issues that it may at times be difficult to distinguish between the two. Yet certain distinctions can be made, and they may be all the difference in the world between the camps.

Perhaps the most serious difference lies in the areas of freedom and justice. Libertarians occasionally talk as though justice is the most important thing which human society ought to strive towards yet almost unfailingly insist that the measure of an act is the amount of freedom it allows. The problem is that freedom ultimately is a means rather than an end, and while it is easy to think that the society with the most freedom may (and the word may cannot be stressed enough) produce the most justice, that surely cannot be a given. A hedonistic society such as what the Western world sometimes appears hell bent for leather determined to make of itself surely welcomes a great (one is tempted to say an absurd) amount of freedom among the people. Do libertarians sufficiently address what that must mean?

Seeing as they are only seriously opposed to areas of direct and physical violence against persons, it is easy to say no. This isn't to say they oppose any and all nonviolent yet repugnant actions; we presume they are against libel and slander, for example. But do they take it far enough? Are there areas where, even though there may appear a lack of real violence against the person or society, there is yet a nonphysical violence which may yet hurt individuals and nations?

The conservative says yes. When society allows repugnant actions to be legal then it had begun teaching individuals and nations that the immoral is in fact moral. It begins to tear the fabric of civil society into little more than strands, each strand being each person, each person being free to do what they want, outside of overt violence, of course, without censure. When that happens, how long may it be before the strands cannot support even themselves? Likely as not, the moment they become too individual, too little concerned with the larger society. What will happen then? The strands that get together by whatever means will dominate the rest. That probably won't mean much for freedom, let alone justice.

Without a sense of true justice, decidedly non violent yet unjust actions will be seen as mere aspects of personal freedom. If it doesn't harm anyone directly and immediately it must, in the libertarian view, be allowed.

Such is a shallow definition of justice. But when a creed is based on mere freedom rather than on actual right and wrong, what can we expect in the long run but decay? If the libertarians wish to be taken seriously then they must accept that freedom isn't the end all be all of human actions. Until that happens, they will always be on the margin of political society. Or, worse, they will lead all of society to its destruction.

Libertarians are Moral Relativists

Are libertarians moral relativists? It's a fascinating question on several levels, not the least of which involves areas where they are and are not willing to pass judgement. Government run economies? Bad. Free markets? Good. But what of all the other issues which vex humanity, which gnaw at the conscience both of the person and the body politic, and are, if we are to be true to any decent sense of right and wrong, more important than economics?

Abortion? A woman may or may not have one - her choice. Gay marriage or same sex partnerships? Any couple where each person enters into the contract freely is all right with them. Freedom of speech? You can anything you want without bother about whether it should be said. In short, whatever does not harm another person (and this generally seems to apply only towards physical harm) is to be tolerated by everyone else.

But of course, there are things which do harm that are not physically hurtful. Even our libertarian friends recognize the need for laws against theft or slander. So why are they so unwilling to consider whether other things not, perhaps, obviously harmful to an individual are in fact harmful to them or society, so much so that society has the right to ban them? This we ask before we are even near the question of whether abortion physically harms another individual. Why are libertarians so unwilling to even consider whether human women have human babies, with all that that question demands of us?

It appears that, in areas which don't tickle their fancy, libertarians don't particularly care about moral right and wrong. If a guard at GITMO looks at a detainee cross eyed you would think it the worst civil rights abuse ever (this without a consideration of why the detainee was there in the first place) and libertarians, quite properly, condemn drone strikes. Why not address any and all moral questions, questions of man's inhumanity to man, even of man's inhumanity to himself, if you will, with the same intensity if they are really interested in doing the right thing all the time?

Then we have their view of religion. Libertarians say they are for religious freedom. Yet as a group it is not something they stress. They were on the whole conspicuously silent over the HHS mandate debacle. They say they are for the Five Freedoms; they sure seem to fret over the four, with a decidedly shallower emphasis than on the fifth. This can only mean one thing: on the whole, they don't care very much about God.

And that is their weakness. Buckley's right, you know. The battle between the individual and the collective is the battle between God and atheism on another level. Without individuals ordained with individuality, along with the acceptance that that individuality is ordained upon them rather than being created for and by themselves as a mere human construct, then there's no point in working for individual rights. Without a consideration of the origin of the individual along with what he is or ought to be, it is ultimately pointless to discuss individual rights. Without knowing, the best we can, what we should be, we are no better than the collective.

We've said before that liberals want what the want solely because they want it. We fear that libertarians are the same way, and to an ill purpose. It allows them to ignore moral questions they prefer not to address.

So again we ask, are libertarians moral relativists?

Yes.