Libertarianism

Because this is a blog dealing with philosophy and conservative politics, it seems appropriate for my first substantial post to be one that considers the relationship between philosophical values and conservative politics.  This is no easy question to answer.  It becomes particularly difficult with the realization that a host of people with seemingly nothing in common are all labeled politically conservative by virtue of their anti-liberalism.  For example, Friedrich Nietzsche, a traditional catholic, Donald Trump, a racist skinhead, Plato, and a typical large-business owner are all called conservative, when it is hard to see what exactly unites them under this label.

In this and the following posts I am going to explore the values that seem to inspire the three types of conservatives most often found in contemporary America.  This list is obviously not exhaustive, but I think it offers a pretty good insight into the values that the majority of self-proclaimed conservatives adhere to.

The Libertarian:  The libertarian values freedom.  Libertarians descend intellectually from the early Enlightenment-era liberals who argued that given the opportunity to pursue their own good, men would do so.  The idea is that if everyone is rational, then we should let people use their rationality to pursue what seems good to them.  Interference from outside forces such as religious mandates, governmental authorities, or traditional strictures would serve merely to put artificial bounds on the use of the universal rationality to which all people have access.

Modern libertarians often express their love of freedom as a human right or a fear of the powers of the government.  The idea, though, is the same.  Freedom is the goal, and the purpose of the government is to guard our rights.  The philosopher Robert Nozick described this as the night-watchman state.  The government is here to alert us of, and protect us from, threats, much like a night-watchman guards the walls of a castle. The government is not here to support any sort of culture, religion, morality, or lifestyle, other than that which is necessary for us to make use of our personal freedom.

For the more traditionally minded conservative, freedom is not a goal in itself.  Freedom is, at best, a means to an end (the ed being an objectively good life), and at worst, an excuse for poor behavior peddled by vice-mongers, greedy capitalists, the idle, and the immature.  Before I am dismissed as too reactionary, take note that I do not mean all freedom is bad or that freedom is not valuable.  Freedom is merely a means to an end, and it seems that it is not a particularly good means.

The internet is a perfect example of this.  The internet gives us unlimited freedom to pursue whatever we want: education, mastery of a skill, access to art, new means of fostering relationships, and so on.  What do most people actually use the internet for?  Posting pictures of their lunch to social media sites and watching pornography.  Given freedom people tend to squander it.  This is in part because of the social conditions of our society, which is saturated in PR, advertising, and psychological manipulation.  But therein lies the problem. The freedom so beloved by the libertarian is the same freedom used by the oligarchs of our society to diminish the freedom of the average person.

Much more could be said about libertarianism, and probably will in the future, but for now let it suffice to say that the libertarian sees freedom as a goal, where the traditional conservative sees freedom as a means to an end.  The exact nature of that end is something to which we will need to pay special attention.

-Cato the Youngest