As a part of what I'm guessing is the Koch's cultural outreach to make libertarianism respectable, a new "Happiness" organization--harmonyandprosperity.org--has appeared in town, with fancy new offices on Capitol Mall, a fancy website and staff. I can't confirm that Kochs have funded them, but they sure don't look short of money to me, and according to Jane Mayer, Kochs are spending three times what the Republican party spends to promote their libertarian ideas. ($889 million in the 2016 election cycle)
This would be the Koch's "Joy Luck Club"...thinking happy thoughts in the midst of chaos, currently funded in excess of a half-million dollars to promote "freedom and happiness"...for reals.
Anyway, I recently came across a request for debate participants (Resolved: "The Obama administration was a success"...I'll buy that as long as the design "success" was actually to fail). That means not only does harmony & prosperity have four staffers listed, and a Capitol Mall address, they have video facilities (not cheap!) and are planning to do the YouTube thing.
Their website is a clever appeal for libertarianism. Their video spouts such philosophical nonsense as "Happiness is the primary human motivator," "Property rights are paramount," "People are always worse off as victims of coercion (or theft)." (For an in depth critique of libertarians, Michael Sandel's Justice is excellent.)
It's easy to call every motivation "happiness" in retrospect, but impossible to discern whether such things as justice (or payback, or revenge, or even artistic satisfaction), are really a happiness initiator. My favorite happiness saying came from a Buddhist master: "Happiness: I don't need it [laughs]" ... What do you suppose is motivating the Buddhists, then?
It's also easy for the libertarians to justify the state's defense of property (one of its few legitimate functions) since most people don't steal their stuff. Although..."Property is theft" -- Karl Marx... and..."Behind every great fortune is a great crime" -- Balzac. So those crooks on Wall Street can count on the cops to keep the mobs away, I guess.
James Baldwin notes as long as Americans believe they are the saintly chosen people, with their success the result of manifest destiny, not genocidal invaders who killed 90% of native populations in the New World, and enslaved millions of Africans, then Americans will suffer horribly, if only for believing their own delusional thinking. In fairness, most of the deaths came from the Old World's diseases (malaria, yellow fever, measles), not actual warfare.
I'd suggest no libertarian ever raised a child, much less anyone with special needs. These guys' website also says any coercion against family & property kills trust. So when a bus is about to mow down your child, you must not use coercion to get the child out of the road, right? Honestly, it's just silly. Of course the Kochs hold the record for EPA fines for dumping their toxic waste into streams and water tables. Coercion is always bad, though.
Then there's the fallacy of composition: These guys say: Principles must be the same for individuals as for society. So...when households save, that's a good thing. But when members of the economy reduce their spending, the depression happens. Is there really no distinction between individuals and collections of people? (Well, not according to Margaret Thatcher, but she was so successful that child poverty went through the roof [121% increase!] in the U.K. thanks to her tender ministrations.)
Then they offer the religious argument: "It [i.e. libertarianism] is nature's law"... Yep, we have a quasi-divine blessing from nature for all libertarian acts and deeds! How convenient!
To top it off, at the end of their propaganda video the handsome libertarian gets to date the gorgeous girl! Most libertarians I know are a little heavy with bad complexions, but now I'm just nit-picking.
Hilarious stuff, and in my experience both naive and dangerous...Here's a little counter-example that demonstrates pure libertarianism devolves to a kind of feudalism, IMHO, inevitably.
This would be the Koch's "Joy Luck Club"...thinking happy thoughts in the midst of chaos, currently funded in excess of a half-million dollars to promote "freedom and happiness"...for reals.
Anyway, I recently came across a request for debate participants (Resolved: "The Obama administration was a success"...I'll buy that as long as the design "success" was actually to fail). That means not only does harmony & prosperity have four staffers listed, and a Capitol Mall address, they have video facilities (not cheap!) and are planning to do the YouTube thing.
Their website is a clever appeal for libertarianism. Their video spouts such philosophical nonsense as "Happiness is the primary human motivator," "Property rights are paramount," "People are always worse off as victims of coercion (or theft)." (For an in depth critique of libertarians, Michael Sandel's Justice is excellent.)
It's easy to call every motivation "happiness" in retrospect, but impossible to discern whether such things as justice (or payback, or revenge, or even artistic satisfaction), are really a happiness initiator. My favorite happiness saying came from a Buddhist master: "Happiness: I don't need it [laughs]" ... What do you suppose is motivating the Buddhists, then?
It's also easy for the libertarians to justify the state's defense of property (one of its few legitimate functions) since most people don't steal their stuff. Although..."Property is theft" -- Karl Marx... and..."Behind every great fortune is a great crime" -- Balzac. So those crooks on Wall Street can count on the cops to keep the mobs away, I guess.
James Baldwin notes as long as Americans believe they are the saintly chosen people, with their success the result of manifest destiny, not genocidal invaders who killed 90% of native populations in the New World, and enslaved millions of Africans, then Americans will suffer horribly, if only for believing their own delusional thinking. In fairness, most of the deaths came from the Old World's diseases (malaria, yellow fever, measles), not actual warfare.
I'd suggest no libertarian ever raised a child, much less anyone with special needs. These guys' website also says any coercion against family & property kills trust. So when a bus is about to mow down your child, you must not use coercion to get the child out of the road, right? Honestly, it's just silly. Of course the Kochs hold the record for EPA fines for dumping their toxic waste into streams and water tables. Coercion is always bad, though.
Then there's the fallacy of composition: These guys say: Principles must be the same for individuals as for society. So...when households save, that's a good thing. But when members of the economy reduce their spending, the depression happens. Is there really no distinction between individuals and collections of people? (Well, not according to Margaret Thatcher, but she was so successful that child poverty went through the roof [121% increase!] in the U.K. thanks to her tender ministrations.)
Then they offer the religious argument: "It [i.e. libertarianism] is nature's law"... Yep, we have a quasi-divine blessing from nature for all libertarian acts and deeds! How convenient!
To top it off, at the end of their propaganda video the handsome libertarian gets to date the gorgeous girl! Most libertarians I know are a little heavy with bad complexions, but now I'm just nit-picking.
Hilarious stuff, and in my experience both naive and dangerous...Here's a little counter-example that demonstrates pure libertarianism devolves to a kind of feudalism, IMHO, inevitably.
No comments:
Post a Comment
One of the objects if this blog is to elevate civil discourse. Please do your part by presenting arguments rather than attacks or unfounded accusations.