Marx dedicated the entire last chapter of the Communist Manifesto to disparaging socialism as a weak doctrine — one that simply reacted and made slow progress, but never reached the full revolution of communism. It worked towards communism, but too slowly.
The spectre of communism was haunting Europe, but that spectre was too much too fast. It required despotic means, and the movement died because of it. But today the reactionary version still infects the world. And that lesson is one that should inform libertarians.
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Libertarians and conservatives have the same split. Conservatives tend to react, but for libertarianism, it requires a revolution. And while it may be fantastic end, the people of today cannot take the shift.
Most libertarian positions are too far-reaching to push the radical agenda right now.
One of the famous portions of the Libertarian platform is legalization of marijuana. This is a place of a major break between conservatives and libertarians, and it shows the problem.
As any good philosopher would believe, I believe that freedom is great. People should be given as much as they can handle – but they are still people.
Having been raised with all the social programs of the American system, legalizing marijuana would require an overhaul of these social programs.
In 2011, the Society for the Study of Addiction conducted a study on the use of marijuana and the need of social welfare assistance. At the conclusion of the study, the found that “Frequent cannabis users were at highly increased risk for subsequently receiving social welfare assistance.”
This is problem for the libertarian who doesn’t believe in these far reaching government entitlement programs. After all, these entitlement programs are paid by the taxpayers. But, here the libertarian is thinking, but ‘taxation is theft.’
That’s exactly the problem. For it to be a truly libertarian position the must get rid of, or at least shrink, these government programs. Which is a conservative ideal – an ideal that will take time.
The libertarians need to learn from Bernie and the socialists.
The lessons taught by the simple stories of childhood explain the concept. You don’t throw a lobster into the boiling water. Instead, you keep turning up the heat little by little. You let it adapt – people must adapt.
The Americans of 2017 are used to regulatory state, but that state has been growing in scope since FDR. Yes, since the 1930’s. The heat of socialism has been turned up little by little. Now the water is boiling, and most people cannot be pulled straight out of the pot; they’re acclimated to the boiling water.
If libertarians and conservatives are going to win, they need to get on the same page. They want the same goal, but at different speeds. Constitutional libertarianism is, or rather should be, the end goal of all conservatives.
The ACU has determined Trump’s cabinet to be more conservative than even Ronald Reagan’s. Pruitt is deregulating at the EPA, Price is pulling the government out of healthcare, and Mattis is putting our soldiers first. These are the first steps in bringing real Freedom back to America.
The real libertarians should jump on board and help direct Trump on policy. They need to stop fighting against him, or they only impede their own political goals.
