There are many more varieties of libertarianism under the stars, Horatio, or Mona Holland or others, than your philosophy hath room for.
Did you know there is green libertarianism? Libertarian socialism? Council communism? Anarcho-syndicalism?
I refer to Wikipedia’s overview of libertarianism.
And, I find that “libertarian socialism” might describe my political stance even better than “social democracy.” In a thumbnail, libertarian socialism believes that a socialist economic system can be established without heavy government lifting, through the actions of trade unions, guilds, councils and other voluntary federations and cooperatives.
The state is (rightly, in my opinion) distrusted as an instrument of capitalism. Most left-libertarian political philosophies, with the exceptions of green libertarianism, focus on labor issues as the key to economic improvement, including the labor theory of value.
So, left-libertarians of the world, UNITE! You have nothing to lose but the chains of rightists spinning myths that theirs is the only actual libertarianism.
I quote Wikipedia:
Pierre-Joseph Proudhon, who is often considered the father of modern anarchism, coined the phrase “Property is theft> to describe his affinity for the labor theory of value, a socialist value.
Seventeen years (1857) after Proudhon first called himself an anarchist (1840), anarchist communist Joseph Déjacque was the first person to describe himself as a libertarian.[2] In United States because the word "libertarian" is now commonly used by anti-state capitalists, non-authoritarian socialists ot that country often call themselves libertarian socialists to differentiate themselves. In the rest of the world, "libertarian" is a synonym of “anticapitalist.”
We, not you Johnny-come-lately righties, were the FIRST libertarians.
Unfortunately, most Americans, even those who claim to know something about political philosophy, just don’t know what all is out there. (Wiki lists Noam Chomsky and Howard Zinn as people who could be characterized as libertarian socialists.)
There has never been any feature of capitalism that would prevent, for example, the UAW from buying a car plant and operating it itself. I don't know if it would be efficient, but so long as any individual or voluntary association is able to pull it's weight (produce as much as it consumes, either individually or in aggregate) capitalism is all that's required.
ReplyDeleteThe requirement of socialism that is repugnant to libertarianism is it's assertion that it is ethical to steal (nationalize) property or to force individuals to participate (enslave them).
If you engage in neither behavior, more power to you!