The Understanding Project
  • Logic
  • About
  • Author
  • Books

Three Reasons Why Libertarians And Centrists Should Unite

9/21/2011

 
As of late, it appears that these two groups have somehow been divided, with the centrists joining the liberals and the libertarians joining the conservatives, but I have always seen them as two sides of the same coin.
Before I begin, I should define my labels, just so there is no confusion. Many political disputes revolve around semantics. Labels are often more trouble than they’re worth. Libertarians are those that wish freedom from an encroaching, meddlesome government, and generally this also means they wish government would spend relatively little. Centrists are those that wish for stability, wish for smooth functioning in government, try to find the middle ground to make as many as possible happy, protect minority opinion groups from being dominated by other minorities, and focus on pragmatism and real-world data.

Why centrists should join libertarians: The less the government regulates, the less there is for us to fight over. The less the government funds, the less there is for us to fight over. If the government did not issue marriage licenses, we wouldn’t be debating whether to issue them to homosexuals, and the conflict would vanish. If the government did not fund our schools, we wouldn’t be debating whether to teach evolutionism or creationism with taxpayer dollars, and the conflict would vanish. Those who wish for less vitriolic rhetoric and bad behavior would do well to find a compromise to settle the dispute. What better compromise is there than to let each go his/her own way while we each run our own lives and stop trying to run everyone’s? One-size-legislation fits few.

Why libertarians should join centrists: For too many decades, the left and the right have taken turns dominating us (and each other). Rather than canceling each other out, they have each rammed through new controversial measures by slim majorities. If instead they required supermajorities and agreement from all opinion groups (except of course for the tiniest of fringes), only the best and most accepted measures would pass. In practice, this should mean that only a very few measures will go through, only a very few and probably very limited agencies will be created, and funding will only be necessary for a very few items. Those who wish for a limited and relatively small government would do well to support arrangements (whether legal or merely customary) that require supermajorities for the passage of legislation. Also, with centrists in charge, libertarians will be sure to at least have a seat at the table.

Why libertarians and centrists should join each other: There is strength in numbers. A unified movement of centrists and libertarians will be a formidable force to use against the left and right. They are natural allies. Whether they form a third party or not, they would do well to at least coordinate their activities.

Libertarians are often seen as being impractical, but to a libertarian, liberty is the practical alternative to failed government programs. Centrists are often seen as being to quick to accept bad compromises that only serve the other side, but part of compromise is making sure the other side compromises as well. There is no compelling reason why we can't work together.

Related Post: The Idealism-Pragmatism Scale

Related Post: Why The Coffee Party And The Tea Party Should Work Together


Comments are closed.

    Author

    Hi, I'm Dan. I like chocolate, hiking, and politics.

    Archives

    November 2019
    April 2019
    February 2017
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    January 2016
    May 2013
    November 2012
    October 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    February 2012
    October 2011
    September 2011
    August 2011
    July 2011
    June 2011
    May 2011
    April 2011
    March 2011
    February 2011
    January 2011
    December 2010
    November 2010
    October 2010
    September 2010
    August 2010
    July 2010
    June 2010
    May 2010

    Categories

    All
    Abortion
    Al Gore
    Anarchy
    Animals
    Ann Coulter
    Anti-Semitism
    Approval Rate
    Barack Obama
    Bias
    Bill Clinton
    Budget Deficit
    Bush Bashing
    Bush-Bashing
    Bush-bashing
    Capitalism
    Center
    Christmas
    Civility
    Code Words
    Coffee Parties
    Collectivism
    Compromise
    Conservative
    Constitution
    Court Rulings
    Culture
    Debate
    Democrats
    Dick Cheney
    Discrimination
    Donald Trump
    Drew Weston
    Economy
    Education
    Environment
    Eric Holder
    Euthanasia
    Experience
    Flag Burning
    France
    George W Bush
    Glenn Beck
    Global Warming
    Health Care
    Hillary Clinton
    Historical Narrative
    Holiday
    Homosexual
    Huffington Post
    Humor
    Hypocrisy
    Immigration
    Independent
    Insult
    Insurance
    Iraq
    Israel
    Jared Loughner
    Jimmy Buffet
    John Kerry
    John Mccain
    Jon Stewart
    Joseph Stark
    Journalism
    Judith Curry
    Julian Assange
    Koran
    Liberal
    Libya
    Marginalization
    Marketing
    Marriage
    Media
    Memes
    Mike Huckabee
    Military
    Mit Romney
    Monopoly
    National Debt
    Occupy Wall Street
    Osama Bin Laden
    Partisanship
    Political Spectrum
    Pragmatism
    Prejudice
    Privacy
    Psychology
    Rachel Maddow
    Racism
    Recession
    Religion
    Republicans
    Rights
    Rush Limbaugh
    Sarah Palin
    Sean Hannity
    Semantics
    Sex
    Sexism
    Socialism
    Sources
    State Rights
    State Secrets
    Stephen Colbert
    Suicide
    Taxes
    Tea Parties
    Term Limits
    Theory
    Tom Tancredo
    Torture
    Unions
    Van Jones
    Wikileaks

    RSS Feed

Please check out my books!

  • Logic
  • About
  • Author
  • Books