Is This the Libertarian Moment? | Value Walk - Llewellyn Rockwell, Ludwig von Mises Institute::
September 3, 2014 - "Earlier this month the New York Times wondered aloud if the 'libertarian moment' had arrived. A good question, to be sure.
"To answer it, though, Times reporter Robert Draper sought out not quite the top libertarian thinkers in the world, but instead those people most easily reached within a ten-minute walk from the Capitol or the Empire State Building....
"The Times, too, thinks primarily about politics, of all things, when assessing whether the libertarian moment has arrived. The article is fixated on the political class. But why conceive of the question so narrowly? Why should we assess the growth and significance of libertarianism on the basis of political metrics alone?
"The left understands this point. Recall Antonio Gramsci’s strategy for bringing about lasting leftist victory. He did not advocate immediate and exclusive emphasis on political activity.... Vastly more important, Gramsci taught, was for their ideas to work their way through the universities, the arts, and all the other institutions of civil society. At that point, it wouldn’t matter who won the elections. The people would already be in their hands — and in all likelihood, the two competing candidates would themselves have adopted leftist language and ideas, whether they realized it or not....
"But if we define the term 'libertarian moment' more modestly, a different conclusion emerges. No, we have not reached a point at which anything like a majority of Americans have embraced our ideas. But we have reached a point at which even mainstream sources, which in the pre-Internet age could get away with ignoring us altogether, are forced to acknowledge us, if only for purposes of dismissal and ridicule.
"Economic commentary can no longer pretend that our choices are either fiscal expansion or monetary expansion....
"Thanks to Ron Paul, a new generation understands it’s all right to favor the free market and to oppose war....
"After decades of virtually no progress at all against the war on drugs, the prohibitionist regime is beginning to crack all around us....
"In other words, we are having discussions that we did not have in the past. Libertarians have staked out positions that a lot of ordinary people share, but which they never saw articulated in public, thereby giving people the confidence and courage to express dissent."
Read more: http://www.valuewalk.com/2014/09/libertarian-moment/
'via Blog this'
September 3, 2014 - "Earlier this month the New York Times wondered aloud if the 'libertarian moment' had arrived. A good question, to be sure.
"To answer it, though, Times reporter Robert Draper sought out not quite the top libertarian thinkers in the world, but instead those people most easily reached within a ten-minute walk from the Capitol or the Empire State Building....
"The Times, too, thinks primarily about politics, of all things, when assessing whether the libertarian moment has arrived. The article is fixated on the political class. But why conceive of the question so narrowly? Why should we assess the growth and significance of libertarianism on the basis of political metrics alone?
"The left understands this point. Recall Antonio Gramsci’s strategy for bringing about lasting leftist victory. He did not advocate immediate and exclusive emphasis on political activity.... Vastly more important, Gramsci taught, was for their ideas to work their way through the universities, the arts, and all the other institutions of civil society. At that point, it wouldn’t matter who won the elections. The people would already be in their hands — and in all likelihood, the two competing candidates would themselves have adopted leftist language and ideas, whether they realized it or not....
"But if we define the term 'libertarian moment' more modestly, a different conclusion emerges. No, we have not reached a point at which anything like a majority of Americans have embraced our ideas. But we have reached a point at which even mainstream sources, which in the pre-Internet age could get away with ignoring us altogether, are forced to acknowledge us, if only for purposes of dismissal and ridicule.
"Economic commentary can no longer pretend that our choices are either fiscal expansion or monetary expansion....
"Thanks to Ron Paul, a new generation understands it’s all right to favor the free market and to oppose war....
"After decades of virtually no progress at all against the war on drugs, the prohibitionist regime is beginning to crack all around us....
"In other words, we are having discussions that we did not have in the past. Libertarians have staked out positions that a lot of ordinary people share, but which they never saw articulated in public, thereby giving people the confidence and courage to express dissent."
Read more: http://www.valuewalk.com/2014/09/libertarian-moment/
'via Blog this'
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