[When I'm not entirely in the mind frame of anarchism, or the apathetic/enlightened frame of dismissing the whole, increasingly seemingly corrupt, ball of wax. That's, in many cases, probably the dissillusionment of youth falling by the wayside... But I digress.]
Government's increased intrusion into every aspect of our lives, lead by the culture of fear perpetuated by the current administration, fills me with a sense of loathing for the political process I don't think I've ever had before. Its increasing departure from actual constitutional democracy and its seemingly absolute disregard of the Bill of Rights pushes me further and further to disregarding the whole thing.
But in my more practical moments, when thinking about the type of government I could actually support, instead of simply bear, a limited government of the libertarian type seems optimal.
But I've always struggled with two aspects of the libertarian philosophy. First, it always seemed to me that government works as a fairly effective check on the abuses of the sociopathic corporate culture that prizes profit over everything else.
And secondly, the one aspect of some European types of socialism that tends to appeal, is that despite the incredible intrusive and bureacratic aspect of it, it seems to stem from a place where the genesis of it is giving a damn about other people.
The libertarian ideal is frequently dismissed with the retort that it's nothing more than the politics of selfishness, and if you don't make caring about other people required by government, soon you have old people eating Alpo and suffering all about.
But when you think about it, that presupposes the idea that people naturally suck. Or are negative and evil. But people have both profound capacities for charity and kindness [as well as evil, of course] and to say that leaving people the hell alone and not mandating "kindness" returns to a Darwinian dog-eat-dog scenario where the strong gobble the weak, is short sighted, and imho, results from years of Western thought corrupted by the insanity that is Chrisianity. Original sin, the concepts that people are born corrupt and require Salvation, the hatred of the "flesh" for the spiritual, etc, etc.
And it also disregards that from a Darwinian perspective, cooperation is as biologically evolutionarily advantageous as competition.
When people are free to do whatever they want, they are equally free to help others. The are free to assist the disadvantaged and protect the weak. The idea that freedom results only in selfishness isn't one that I'm willing to submit my psyche to anymore. [An ongoing process, of course. Seventeen years of brainwashing is tough to kick.]
It seems most of the damage done to others throughout history has been done by those who want to impart the "help" of the "one right way to live" on others.
Like C.S. Lewis says -
Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It would be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience.
As for government as a corporate check on power... that stems, I think from an idealistic sense of what the role of government should be, as opposed to what it is. I read this this AM and had a sense of illumination, for lack of a better word.
Markos Moulitsas Is Not a Libertarian
Government is the source of corporations’ power. Corporations have gotten very good at getting government to empower them to do whatever they want. Without government, corporations could not exist. And the less power government wields over the people, the less power the corporation can leverage to its own.
...and Markos Moulitsas is still not a libertarian
...corporations gain their undue power from government. Government is the enabler, empowering corporations to step on individuals and small businesses through both regulations and subsidies. It’s only by restraining government that corporations can be held in check.
This makes a lot of sense to me right now. And whether that's logic or rationalisation [yes, the same thing, I know], who's to say?
People are pretty good. As individuals. Get a bunch of them together, not so much.
It's probably a combination of being The True Believer: Thoughts on the Nature of Mass Movements and The Mass Psychology of Fascism. [Both great books, btw.]
Like Groucho Marx said,
"I refuse to join any club that would have me as a member."And yes the irony of trying to find a political label to "join" doesn't escape me, but in the process of working all this out in your head, you have to use some kind of words and labels.
Unless Zen somehow becomes a political party. Which would be kind of cool, now that I think about it.
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