Welcome to the new Lib Lib Report, i.e. the Liberal Libertarian Report. In this first episode, I want to explain what liberal libertarianism is, and what this show is going to be about. Let's start here. Liberalism, in a broad pro-liberty sense, is losing ground to illiberal critical theory-based movements on the Left, as well as illiberal populist forms of conservatism on the Right. Given that classical liberal values are fundamental to the social contract of the post-Enlightenment West, I believe that if we let liberalism fall, the consensus behind Western society as we know it will basically collapse, and much that we hold dear will disappear forever. Therefore, it is certainly an urgent priority that we act to save liberalism. But what should we do?
Right Now, Liberalism Lacks a Grand Vision
I think the biggest reason why liberalism has suffered is because it is seen to lack a longer term vision. Much of contemporary liberal discourse is very pragmatic, i.e. it seeks to resolve issues in the here and now, using solutions that are aimed at respecting individual liberty and equality as much as possible. However, there is almost no vision of arriving at a better destination eventually. Contrast this to both the critical theory Left and the populist Right, which promise their supporters the possibility of a different world. While a true liberalism can never, and should never be utopian, I think we should still offer a vision, where we can reach a different, better world in the longer term. This longer term vision would, in turn, provide stronger justification for choosing the liberal path in the here and now.
So what long term vision, what kind of long term destination, should a robust 21st century liberal politics offer? This is what I want to explore next. But let's detour a bit and take a look at my early political development, and how I chose between liberalism and libertarianism.
The Possible Liberalism vs The Impossible Libertarianism
When I was in college, I had the idea that, if I were to start a political party, I would call it the 'Liberal Libertarian Party'. I liked parts of libertarianism and liberalism, because, after all, both were dedicated to increasing individual liberty. At first, I thought that libertarianism was grander in its vision, which was why I was more attracted to it. But about a year later, especially in the context of an election, I came to realize that libertarianism wasn't practically going to win any time soon, and we can't let the perfect be the enemy of the good. Back then, my top two priorities were ending the 'War on Terror' and legalizing the freedom to marry for gay couples. And I saw clearly that liberalism, rather than libertarianism, was the only hope for delivering these things in the foreseeable future. And so, I became mostly a pragmatic liberal from that point onwards.
Libertarian politics, in the conventional sense, has always been a hard sell. Even 20 years ago, when people most commonly identified as 'socially liberal, fiscally conservative', libertarianism still had few supporters. And it's not for no good reason either. Conventional libertarians are almost always 'immediatists', i.e. if they had a chance to govern they would cut the size of the government to the absolute minimum at the first opportunity. This could have a lot of undesirable, perhaps even dangerous, effects on society, some of them even likely to be unforeseeable or unpredictable. Conventional libertarians often don't care too much about this, because libertarianism cares more about first principles than practical consequences. However, the average voter out there, whose priority is usually a stable and secure life, often first see an unfamiliar set of policies as a potential wrecking ball if allowed into government. And immediatist libertarianism, let's be honest, does sound like a wrecking ball to most voters. Hence, they are never going to vote libertarian, no matter how libertarians frame their message.
Besides the practical pitfalls of an 'immediatist' libertarian politics, there is also the pragmatic consideration of electoral competitiveness. Right now, the West has a major problem of worsening economic inequality, and both the critical theory Left and the populist Right are calling for a more robust economic safety net. The challenges of the last two years has further increased the common desire for a stronger safety net. If libertarians continue to call for cutting government programs across the board, because of ideological reasons, it is certainly going to sound tone deaf. The trouble with this kind of ideological stubborness is that, it has practical consequences in the real world. It means illiberal forces that promise to deliver what the people want will gain ground instead, leading us to a more illiberal future. I believe the most important thing about participating in politics is a sense of responsibility for the consequences one's decisions might have on people's lives in the future. Ideological purity that might lead to future disaster certainly sounds irresponsible to me.
Pragmatic Liberalism Plus Long Term Libertarianism?
The impracticality of libertarian immediatism means that we are left with the choice of practicing a pragmatic liberalism for now. This would include defending free speech vigorously, encouraging free and independent thinking, promoting and protecting civil liberties, and safeguarding the freedom of individuals from being trampled on by the tyranny of the majority. By extension, I also believe in advocating for objective science-based policies, and a peace-orientated approach to international relations. I have said a lot about the aforementioned goals over the years. However, a liberalism that is only ever concerned about pragmatic problems in the here and now lacks the grand long term vision, which means it has a deficit in passion, and in particular makes it much less attractive to more idealistic people.
This is where a kind of long term libertarian goal comes in. Liberal libertarianism aims to combine the practice of pragmatic liberalism, perhaps with some libertarian influences, in the here and now, with having a longer term goal of moving towards a much more libertarian society. What liberal libertarianism recognizes is that, right now, the immediate application of a typical libertarian platform could actually harm individual liberty in many cases, given the long-standing social and economic structure of society. A pragmatic liberalism therefore best serves individual liberty in the here and now. However, liberal libertarianism also recognizes that, given the rapid development of technology, automation, and new social practices enabled by technology like crowdsourcing, mutual aid and the new sharing economy, there is indeed scope to move in a much more libertarian direction in the longer run, especially when the aforementioned developments become much more mature. Therefore, while liberal libertarians are basically pragmatic liberals in the here and now, they have also not given up on the libertarian dream in the longer term.
Don't get me wrong. Liberal libertarianism is certainly not just liberals who daydream about a libertarian utopia in the distant future. The existence of the long term 'libertarian destination' in our roadmap actually influences policy orientations in the here and now. For example, the underlying long term goal of moving towards a decentralized society would justify the choice of more decentralized and market-based mechanisms when deciding how we might strengthen our social safety net. A universal basic income (UBI) scheme could be one way of doing that, and a liberal libertarian would therefore prefer a UBI over welfare schemes that are means tested or tied to work requirements. A liberal libertarian would also be particularly interested in encouraging the development of decentralized, market-based or market-like systems where individuals could engage in mutually beneficial exchanges, because that could eventually lead to ways to cut the size of the government, without turning power and resources over to big business like conventional privatization schemes do.
What This Show Will Be About
This show will be part of an attempt to build a liberal libertarian worldview and politics. It will be for liberal libertarians and people of other ideologies alike. I hope my ideas can inspire fellow liberal libertarians to think about what could be pragmatically done to address problems in the here and now, how we can have a much more decentralized and free society in the ideal future, and how the two can be linked. Meanwhile, people of other ideologies can hopefully come to appreciate how a liberal libertarian would see the issues, and where there might be opportunities for cooperation, even if we have differences in other areas. The show will discuss news and current affairs from a liberal libertarian perspective on some days, and talk about liberal libertarian philosophy on other days. The show will have episodes that focus on imagining the libertarian future, and how our current choices might help or hinder us in getting there. I'm also going to explore how Moral Libertarianism, i.e. the principle of ensuring equal and maximum moral agency for every individual, can serve as a philosophical bridge between the pragmatic liberalism of the present and the idealistic libertarianism of the future.
