Jeremy’s Blogiversary Reflection
I once claimed on this blog that “the libertarian moment is here to stay.” Boy, was I wrong.
The rising arc of a Progressive-Libertarian alliance that Sebastian and I hoped for has been choked and trampled by an emerging culture war between two stripes of authoritarians. It seems more difficult than ever to articulate a center of shared values. It seems increasingly unpopular to support an open society in any situation. All speech is immediately pounced upon as signaling for one horse or the other in a race to the bottom of the Western cultural dustbin. I reject a choice between Nazis and Maoists. But let me put this on the record in clear terms: I would punch neither of them.
More than ever, we as a culture need to focus on critiques of institutions and the powers they hold rather than obsess over political scorekeeping. Executive overreach has been a problem for a long time, and this blog has been saying so. We will continue to say so. More than ever.
— Jeremy
Jeremy’s Highlights:
Sebastian – “The Progressive Case Against Occupational Licensing”
Sebastian lays out in clear terms why libertarians and progressives often find themselves at opposite ends of ideological conflicts concerning regulation – but also why this shouldn’t be the case. This is our editorial perspective at its best.
Angie – “Orange is the New Black Sheds Light on the Drug War and Imprisoned Women”
Angie’s pop-culture expertise combines with her sharp awareness of societal trends in this piece. Did you know that since the mid-1980s, the number of women incarcerated for nonviolent drug offenses has risen 10-fold? You should. Thanks to Angie, now you do.
Sebastian – “The War at Home”
This piece is gut-wrenching. I don’t want to spoil it. It is poetry, and like all art, it should be experienced rather than explained. Read it through once first, then click every link that Sebastian diligently assembled.
Personal Best:
Jeremy — “Self-Organization and Politics: Hayek and “Health” Economics”
Above all, our blog has been about various critiques of power, and attempting to build bridges between them. This piece tries to erect a bridge between theories of self-organizing phenomena and Friedrich Hayek, of “Road to Serfdom” infamy. The conclusion is simple: policy should be oriented towards giving people what they need rather than forcing them to behave in particular ways. Anything else is doomed to fail.
I feel your pain. If it’s any consolation, the prospect of a progressive-libertarian alliance is less unappealing to me now than it was a year ago. I’m assuming progressive-libertarian alliance means those kids who say things like “I’m conservative on fiscal issues and liberal on social issues.” If I’m wrong, please do tell. I’m very liberal (i.e. very against classical liberalism) on economic issues and extremely liberal on social issues. Since extremely > very, I guess that puts me “on the same side of the diagonal,” at least, Political Compass-wise. The general impression I get of Unfettered Equality (which is nice to see in my feed reader again, BTW) is that UF is to lefty progressives as C4SS is to lefty anarchists and generic socialists — a strategy for slipping free market ideas under the rug, or perhaps making them more palatable to people (like me) who place a high priority on various notions of social equality. Thing is, when these left-styled market advocates explain why I should embrace free markets, the stock of arguments they draw from (calculation argument, normative vs. positive, etc.) seems pretty much indistinguishable to me from the talking points of free market principles as advocated by corporate think tanks such as Reason, Cato, FEE, etc. I’m generally anti-market (which to me doesn’t automatically imply statism, let alone Maoism) because after a long day (week, month) of pounding pavement, the last thing in the world I’m going to swallow is the idea that the economic status quo we find ourselves in isn’t competitive enough! I support anything that dials down the level of competitiveness, be it shorter work weeks, earlier retirement, more vacation time, expanded civil service, guild mentality (assuming guild membership is in my reach).
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Thanks so much for this incredibly thoughtful response! I just checked out your blog and saw your most recent post responding to a review of James Scott’s “Seeing Like a State,” which has been a favorite book of mine since college. Please keep writing and we’re very happy that you enjoy our blog.
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