Republican Libertarians: The New Socialists

May 31, 2007
Evans Munyemesha

It is common among a certain large number of contemporary libertarians to argue that political power, or the power of the State, in their hands, the libertarians, would be benign. This line of reasoning has led to the agitation to have libertarians in public office. Necessarily, difficult questions arise: Are libertarian principles compatible with public administration? Isn't membership in public service a constant sacrifice of libertarian convictions? Am I mistaken in asserting that a libertarian politician (assuming that there could be such a thing!), if he stood unshaken on the principles of libertarianism would place his political party at a fatal disadvantage in its battles with its competitors?

But as politics has no other foundation but dark science, and as such is nothing but an art in which the politician cleverly manipulates the voting mob, promising to make them freer and wiser by the scepter of the Acts of Parliament, it remains unclear how a libertarian politician could reconcile the noble principles of libertarianism with those of his politics. If government, which is what politics is all about, is incompatible with liberty, what view should we take of those libertarians such as Karen Kwiatkowski and her opinions in her article "Ron Paul Rocks!?" And indeed of Ron Paul who subscribes, simultaneously, to both Republicanism and Libertarianism?

It is evident to my eyes that there is no other course left open to a libertarian politician, who wishes to stand on the side of liberty; who wishes to be hold the truth above all else; and who wishes to remain unsoiled by the corrupting influences of political gamesmanship. Whoever finds it appropriate to crave political power on the delusional theory that as long as the government has been popularly elected, and that, under such a government, the power belongs to the people, and is power legitimate, has set himself up on the path to despotism, and all those who acquiesce in his views shall soon be debased to creatures no better than slaves.

This we must know for there are only two paths to take, either you let all individuals govern themselves or suppress their sovereignty by governing them by coercion. It is evident still, to me, that liberty, wherever it had room to settle, had not done so because of the efforts of well-meaning politicians, no; but because of the tenacious and gallant efforts of individuals working outside of parliaments and other political chambers. A libertarian politician who looks to nurture liberty by first trampling down on the seeds from which it springs, using the State, an acknowledged enemy of liberty, is a libertarian of convoluted libertarian principles.

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Let us recall that membership in a political party entails inevitably that interests of the party must always prevail over the highest truth for the party to remain cohesive and secure its political victories. While it is natural and right for human beings to cooperate as a means by which they unite their strength to obtain certain results, yet, a political party has come to be an end in itself, to be preserved at all costs and by whatever means. It is inconsistent, if not absurd, to hold religiously to libertarian principles while at the same time being faithful to party interests. It may be urged that "But the practice of party politics by libertarians is merely a transitory phase, that by necessity, has to be passed through to reach the higher goal of practicing truly libertarian principles."

Let me be plain: It is a strange manner of thinking that libertarian values could be attained by violating libertarian principles! Our lives will not be made better, nor will our social matters be improved or resolved through immoral and vicious means. If some libertarians are eager to pooh-pooh and forsake their own teachings, why should those skeptical of libertarianism find it worthwhile to embrace it? If a libertarian has little faith in his own creed, refusing to be true to himself, and is quick to forge alliances with Republicans and Democrats, we have no reason to believe that his libertarian pronouncements are genuine.

In the name of serving liberty, some libertarians have entangled themselves with political parties, pressing on along an unknown road, taking no care or responsibility for the ruin that their actions will soon leave behind, none of them knowing, or even trying to know, where they are headed. Their gift to us all shall not be liberty, but a new Socialism.

Evans Munyemesha [send him email] is author of soon to be released libertarian book, "Poverty: A Treatise On Its Principal Cause"