Sunday, July 15, 2007
Libertarians & Greens
It's interesting to me that my post about Ron Paul, a Libertarian who is seeking the Republican nomination, generated more comments that anything else I have written here, at least for a LONG time. That's OK by me because I believe we must carry the message to all people, including Republicans and Libertarians. No one is beyond the reach of common sense. It just takes the right combination of ideas and the right opportunity to share them.
One thing I want to be clear about though is what I think separates Greens and Libertarians. Most Libertarians would place liberty as their one key organizing principle. Liberty, per se, does not even appear in the Ten Key Values.
The other key difference, to me, is that Libertarians, by and large, believe that corporations enjoy rights. Most Greens would reject this, pointing out that legal combinations of capital and people are just that, a legal combination, not a person. Entireties such as "empower individuals to sue polluters" or "Open markets to all comers" ignores the power which has been building up in corporate coffers and board rooms for decades.
Nancy just got home with a bunch of groceries. Blog ya later gang!
One thing I want to be clear about though is what I think separates Greens and Libertarians. Most Libertarians would place liberty as their one key organizing principle. Liberty, per se, does not even appear in the Ten Key Values.
The other key difference, to me, is that Libertarians, by and large, believe that corporations enjoy rights. Most Greens would reject this, pointing out that legal combinations of capital and people are just that, a legal combination, not a person. Entireties such as "empower individuals to sue polluters" or "Open markets to all comers" ignores the power which has been building up in corporate coffers and board rooms for decades.
Nancy just got home with a bunch of groceries. Blog ya later gang!
// posted by Gregg Jocoy @ 3:42 PM 
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I appreciate your analysis but it is inaccurate. Libertarians believe in the rights of the individual over the rights of the collective, whether that collective is government or corporations. In Libertarian ideology no groups have "rights". What you call Libertarianism is actually corporatism and this is very different. The reason corporations can pollute the planet and the air you breath is because in the current political system, their rights trump your rights because they buy political influence. The bigger government gets, the worse the problem becomes regardless of whether right or left is in power. Pollution is essentially a problem of the individual vs the collective. If I can prove economic or personal damage from a company polluting my property or air space then I should have recourse using the law. Libertarians oppose all initiated violence and pollution of the air is a form of violence against people.
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: 5:41 PM
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