Friday, June 16, 2006

On Libertarianism

The biggest mistake I think many libertarians make is in thinking of Government as some kind of external entity that serves only to oppress The People. But one of the great ideas from The Enligtenment is that it is The People who are sovereign and thus are the ones who establish the Government. The People ARE The Government. So if The Government becomes oppressive it is because The People WANT it to be oppressive.

As I like to say, Goverenment Happens. What matters is not whether we have Government but how we choose to live with it and make it work. Many libertarians seem to just want the Government to go away and leave them the fuck alone. I am sympathetic to the sentiment. I agree with it many times myself. But it just isn't realistic.

Governments are just one form of Institution that The People create to help manage their affairs. Another is Business. Business is an economic Institution formed by a partnership of People who want to achieve a common economic goal (Make Money Fast!). But Business suffers from the same flaw as any other Institution: once created, it can take on a life of its own.

The real danger to society comes when the Institutions we create to manage our affairs begin to act as if The People are subservient to them (Autocracy) rather than the other way around (Democracy).

That's why I am a Democrat. Democrats believe that The People are the ultimate source and purpose for the existence of Institutions (both Government and Business). The People are Sovereign and, as such, The People have the right to regulate those Institutions in whatever way they deem necessary. Voting is just one means of doing it. Delegating authority to representatives is another. In Government this delegation produces a Republic. In Business this delegation produces a Corporation(*).

Republicans, on the other hand, lose sight of where Sovereignty comes from and approach Institutions as if it were the delegates who have the sovereignty. Thus they call themselves Republicans (supporters of The Republic) instead of Democrats (supporters of The People).

Democrats want The People to regulate Institutions. Republicans want Institutions to regulate The People.

(* - Corporations are Businesses that are given a measure of independent existence entirely by action of The People (articles of incorporation). So anytime anyone says the Government, the manifestation of the will of The People, doesn't have the right to regulate Corporations, I call bullshit.)

Monday, June 12, 2006

"Nice campaign you have here, ...

"... shame if anything were to happen to it."

That's the essence of this column from Byron York.

York says that the YearlyKOS convention was the blogosphere's coming out party and, as such, it will invite increased media attention of just what has been going out here for the last few years. Which means that we better be prepared for some nasty smears based on blog comments that are now several years old.

Please don't think that York is giving us a friendly warning. No. He's actually eager for it to happen. He's positively shivering in anticipation.

It's actually not much of a threat to bloggers or Markos in particular. York knows that bloggers tend to be made of much tougher stuff than your average politician. Markos has dealt with these smears before and I'm confident he will do fine in the future.

The real threat in York's column is against politicians who might be considering aligning themselves with bloggers.

One theme of coverage of the YearlyKos convention is that Moulitsas and his followers are playing an active role in the 2006 and 2008 campaigns. Left unsaid is whether they will be an asset or a liability for the candidates they support. It seems reasonable to expect that any Democratic candidate who allies himself with Moulitsas, or accepts DailyKos support, will be asked, by Republican opponents, whether he or she endorses some of the things Moulitsas has written and said.

In other words, "If you are seen in public with Markos we will make you eat everything he ever said."

It's the politics of intimidation. This is just the first shot across the bow.