March 30, 2015
How can libertarians best take action to move forward toward our goal of a free society? Is involvement in the political process a good way to achieve this? Or should libertarians drop out of the system and embrace agorism? Is either way better? This continues to be a topic of much debate in the libertarian movement.
Libertarians gain a seat at the table: Secretary of State candidate Bob Odden (right) speaks at a debate in 2014.
“Politics” is often a dirty word for many small-l libertarians. After all, the political process involves rubbing elbows with a lot of unsavory authoritarian-types. The very definition of politics is the study of how coercive force should be used to control people. Understandably, liberty-minded people tend to dislike an organization which uses compulsion as its primary tactic. Furthermore, involvement in politics can feel frustrating, with outright wins by capital-l Libertarian candidates less frequent than we would like … so far.
So why should libertarians take an active role in the political process?
The public wants solutions
Every election cycle, various candidates propose their solutions to today’s pressing problems. How can young people receive a better education? How to make healthcare affordable? How to best protect ourselves from criminals and overseas threats? These and many other problems are discussed and debated during political campaigns.
The public has become accustomed to tuning-in and choosing the candidate whose solution makes the most sense on election day. Or more accurately, choosing the best solution offered.
In nearly every race, one candidate of the Two Big Old parties proposes an area that government should become involved in. The other candidate disagrees, proposing government involvement in another area instead. Occasionally a “centrist” candidate appears, asserting that compromise should be sought by expanding government control in both areas.
Quite naturally, the average voter has come to believe that no matter what is done, government must be key to any solution. Those are the only choices they’ve heard, after all.
This is why Libertarians must have a voice in politics. In the political realm, advocates of liberty can have a seat at the table and present a new way of solving our problems which is considerably different from what people have grown accustomed to hearing. Only from Libertarian leaders and candidates will the public hear a clear and consistent voice calling for voluntary market-based solutions to replace coercive government-based taxes and mandates.
For example, in sharp contrast to proposals by both GOP and DFL leaders, an LPMN candidate offered a zero-tax proposal to build a new Vikings stadium. And while both GOP and DFL have maintained Minnesota’s massive social welfare programs, LPMN leaders presented an example of how individuals can begin to help the homeless, as neighbors helping neighbors, reducing the need for government programs. This latter is an example of an “agorist” solution, which bears some explanation for those not familiar with the term.
Agorism
The word “agora” comes from the classic Greek word for “open marketplace”. Agorism is the practice of acting entrepreneurially on a neighborhood level. Agorists don’t seek permission from government bureaucrats to proceed, but take immediate personal action to create a product or service which they believe others will find of value, and trade value-for-value on a voluntary basis with others of a similar mindset.
Agorist products and services can be developed by any liberty-minded and entreprenerially-minded person for any area, including such services as money and justice. An example is Shire Silver, a precious-metals product which can be used as currency, created by former LPMN Chair Ron Helwig (now residing in New Hampshire). The market-based justice system consisting of an online reputation company and a network of competing arbitrators, which I had proposed (video) at our 2013 State Convention, can also be considered an agorist solution.
There’s a problem with agorism, however. When agorist products become popular enough to begin seeing widespread use, politicians and bureaucrats often relish in asserting control by stepping in to shut them down. In the realm of private currencies, this happened to the Liberty Dollar, developed by entrepreneur Bernard Von NotHaus. Ironically, the government claimed he was attempting to “counterfeit”, even though, unlike the government’s unbacked fiat Federal Reserve Dollars, the Liberty Dollar’s paper “warehouse receipts” were backed by real gold and silver coins held in a vault in Idaho, which had been independently audited on a regular basis to maintain integrity. Another private currency, the digital gold-backed currency E-gold was also shut down. The market-based digital currency Bitcoin remains … for now.
Almost any agorist activity faces a clear and present danger from government. That’s what one teenager learned when he bought a hot dog stand to raise money to support his ailing parents, only to be mercilessly crushed by his city government. Other examples abound.
So, what’s the solution?
Synergy is needed
Libertarian candidates and political activists are unlikely to achieve broad levels of public support without agorist-style solutions which they can point to as evidence that society really can function without government involvement. Similarly, market agorists are unlikely to experience large-scale success without Libertarian candidates who can appear on camera to publicly defend them — or even better, as elected Libertarian officials, to begin to dismantle the labyrinth of laws, regulations, and mandates that stifle entrepreneurial spirit.
Thus, political activists and market agorists are important. Both must work together to build momentum toward our mutual goal of achieving a free society.
Since political activism tends to be dominated by minarchist libertarians and market agorism tends to be practiced by voluntaryist libertarians, disagreement over method and adherence to philosophy can be a source of conflict in some circles.
But you’ll find little evidence of such conflict in Minnesota. At our upcoming 2015 LPMN State Convention on April 25, both political and agorist solutions are featured in our program. All stripes of libertarians, and those coming to check out the Libertarian Party for the first time, will be free to explore all presentations and decide for themselves which approach is their favorite … and perhaps both!
By working together, political activists and market agorists can deliver a one-two punch to the Two Big Old parties and their authoritarian system of control, by demonstrating to the public that libertarian solutions work!
For Liberty,
S.L. Malleck
LPMN Vice Chair
Concerned about the expansion of government control and the erosion of individual liberty? Please consider joining and becoming active with the Libertarian Party of Minnesota. Libertarians support liberty on all issues, all the time! Libertarianism is a philosophical and political movement to promote personal freedom, strong civil liberties, a genuinely free marketplace, and peace.
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