The rise of libertarianism?

[Quartz]

I wonder if we're missing something obvious with the LD / Con pact: a choice, not between Left and Right, but a switch to Libertarianism (vs Statism), and it is this that is giving the two parties common ground - Labour being both left-wing and Statist, the Tories right-wing and Libertarian, and the LDs left-wing and Libertarian.

The Conservative manifesto had plenty of Libertarian ideas. The Liberals are naturally Libertarian anyway. So is this the common ground and their way forward?

Or should I revert to cynicism and it's all about power?

 

[butchersapron]

How do you manage to so consistently read everything so wrong?

 

[DotCommunist]

No offense, but you really haven't got a scooby mate.

 

[mk12]

Let's see how 'libertarian' the new Home Secretary will be

 

[Quartz]

How do you manage to so consistently read everything so wrong?

I'm putting this forward as a conjecture, not saying it's what I believe.

 

[agricola]

If they follow what they have set out in the two manifestos (which is by no means certain) then we will be a markedly freer society as a result. Theresa May is a bad start though.

 

[Quartz]

Theresa May is a bad start though.

They only need her as eye-candy for the older jack-boot brigade.

 

[Quartz]

How do you manage to so consistently read everything so wrong?

Actually, reading the agreement between the two parties, it looks like I'm pretty much spot on.

 

[Blagsta]

Depends what you mean by libertarianism. If you mean giving the markets a freer hand, then yes. Still requires state intervention though. Read some history books.

 

[butchersapron]

Yes, ok you are Q.

 

[gentlegreen]

I perceive a slow ratcheting in the right direction - I'm seeing Cameron as needing Clegg to fight his corner in the nasty party. Half his MPs are new ...

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Labour has had a variable history - witness James Callaghan versus Roy Jenkins on "permissiveness" ... and the latest batch of Home secretaries and Brown's "lethal" cannabis ...

 

[treelover]

lots of Guardian readers/posters on CIF do now see politics in terms of the the binary divisions of Statism Vs Liberty, they are all comfortably off though I presume.

 

[Goatherd]

Well Iain Duncan-Smith is probably going to be very libertarian in his new job looking after the welfare state.

 

[gentlegreen]

lots of Guardian readers/posters on CIF do now see politics in terms of the the binary divisions of Statism Vs Liberty, they are all comfortably off though I presume.

Do libertarianism and social justice have to be mutually exclusive ?

Even Nu-Labour were crap at wealth redistribution.

 

[gentlegreen]

Well Iain Duncan-Smith is probably going to be very libertarian in his new job looking after the welfare state.

Doubtless he will know that the bulk of that budget is pensions, not benefits.

 

[treelover]

just saw that in the Guardian, a evangelist, so its a prayer with your meal vouchers then...

 

[gentlegreen]

 

[ViolentPanda]

They only need her as eye-candy for the older jack-boot brigade.

May and IDS are a nod and wink to the right of the party, and May is hardly "eye candy". She has all the attractiveness of the rancid corpse of a she-weasel.

 

[ViolentPanda]

Actually, reading the agreement between the two parties, it looks like I'm pretty much spot on.

Depends how you read it, and which definition(s) of "libertarian" you subscribe to.

 

[ViolentPanda]

Well Iain Duncan-Smith is probably going to be very libertarian in his new job looking after the welfare state.

I honestly can't wait to see whether he's going to use lube when he butt-fucks me and my fellow crips.

 

[ska invita]

The Conservative manifesto had plenty of Libertarian ideas.

That Big Society stuff they failed to sell at the election strikes me as Colin Ward-esque anarchistic, at least on the surface. The difference is that when camron talks about individual responsibility and communitiy action i get the feeling its a romantic notion founded on the time he helped build his neighbours fence, rather than a programme grounded in either a thorough political ideology or a practical policy plan. i get the feeling he thinks it is enough to cut proper services, then talk about the Big Society, and hope it might happen.

The lack of detail on what is supposedly a key plank of the camron vision says it all. though if they do start wheeling out the big society id be genuinely interested to read the policy notes. more than likely in horror.

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by the way, this on anarcho-capitalists might be of interest.
http://www.infoshop.org/page/AnarchistFAQSectionF

also, there are libertarian conservative traditions, i have heard, but dont know anything about them. G. K. Chesterton? i think its right that there are common traditions that binds camrons torys and clegg libdems. well, wev've got five years to read up on it...

 

[Quartz]

by the way, this on anarcho-capitalists might be of interest.
http://www.infoshop.org/page/AnarchistFAQSectionF

Jeebus! Competing monarchies? That idea of a natural elite is straight out of The Republic.

 

[moon23]

There are many dialectics in which you can understand the state of politics, left/right, Libertarian/Statist.

I think people got fed up with Labour's Statism, and attempts to control and manange people's private lifes be that through survillance, petty offenses or nagvertising.

 

[DotCommunist]

Probably more to do with corruption and being perceived to have fucked the economy (even though it could have happened under any of the three, boom n bust is just part and parcel of neoliberalist capital). Although for some the infringements on liberties may have played a part. The scrapping of the ID card as such must be seen for what it is- a popularist move. The increasing of controls on movement, money etc will continue. DNA database etc.

 

[Blagsta]

There are many dialectics in which you can understand the state of politics, left/right, Libertarian/Statist.

I think people got fed up with Labour's Statism, and attempts to control and manange people's private lifes be that through survillance, petty offenses or nagvertising.

This is rubbish. You're completely ignoring economics. You appear to have moved over to the libertarian right. You'll be right at home with the tories.

 

[Santino]

There are many dialectics in which you can understand the state of politics, left/right, Libertarian/Statist.

I think people got fed up with Labour's Statism, and attempts to control and manange people's private lifes be that through survillance, petty offenses or nagvertising.

By 'people' I take it you mean the handful of floating voters who made a conscious decision to change their vote from Labour to Tory or Lib Dem in a marginal constituency?