When people think about a libertarian, they tend to conjurer up an image of a strange, pot-smoking creature living in his parent’s basement, griping about tyranny and Ron Paul. Libertarians at the 5th Annual International Students for Liberty Conference in Washington, DC, hope to refute this image.
Overcoming this anti-cultural image of libertarians is an important first step toward making a significant impact, which is why one of the opening panels Saturday morning was titled, “So, I Hear You Are a Libertarian? Who Gives a Sh*t?”
Jeff Frazee, Executive Director of Young Americans for Liberty, summed up the libertarian tension with two memes I’ve recreated here:
Libertarians don’t understand why the rest of the world doesn’t love liberty as much as they do. And the rest of the world doesn’t understand why libertarians can’t succeed in making a difference.
Libertarians must properly understand their own ideology to effect change. Nigel Ashford, senior program manager at the Institute for Humane Studies, held a lecture to a packed room discussing five (of the many) different “breeds” of libertarianism: Chicago, Austrian, Public Choice, School of Natural Rights and Anarcho-Capitalism. The differentiation between each is similar to splitting hairs on the back of a much larger animal of political thought.
The Chicago style is empirical and meaty. like the pizza. The Austrian school has a subjective theory of value, like your ex. Public Choice theory takes a very Hobbesian, depressing view of human nature, like Hobbes without Calvin. The School of Natural Rights focuses on the unalienable rights as outlined in the Declaration of Independence. And Anarcho-Capitalism libertarians really aren’t libertarians – they’re anarchists.
The remainder of Frazee’s lecture encouraged young people to get involved in the mainstream political process.
Unfortunately, most libertarians get caught up in the in-fighting between schools, and never make it out of their parent’s basements.
