[extropy-chat] [FoRK] "Free State" backlash: Libertarian Rhetoric is Counterproductive (Op-Ed) (fwd from jbone at place.org)

Wed Jun 23 09:11:33 UTC 2004

----- Forwarded message from Contempt for Meatheads <jbone at place.org> -----

From: Contempt for Meatheads <jbone at place.org>
Date: Tue, 22 Jun 2004 23:49:11 -0500
To: FoRK <fork at xent.com>
Subject: [FoRK] "Free State" backlash: Libertarian Rhetoric is
	Counterproductive (Op-Ed) 
X-Mailer: Apple Mail (2.618)

I've been out on FSP ever since they "decided" (IMHO the voting was 
rigged) to go cold-state.  Yes, call me superficial, but warmth trumps 
ideology.  Why the hell else would I live in Hell, er, Texas?  Either 
way right-wing (rest of state plus most of the Capitol campus) or 
left-wing (Austin) nuts, there has to be some justifying upside in the 
middle.

Nonetheless, via k5:

	http://www.kuro5hin.org/print/2004/6/21/19280/4046

Libertarian Rhetoric is Counterproductive (Op-Ed)

By CaptainSuperBoy
Tue Jun 22nd, 2004 at 07:14:24 PM EST
	Freedom

There's a problem with typical libertarian rhetoric, and it's 
illustrated in this article in New Hampshire's Union Leader. When we 
speak like crazed Rand-worshippers, how do we expect people to react? 
Of course they're going to call us 'cultists.'

From the article: "if you care at all about New Hampshire, you should 
do everything in your power to cause the Free Staters and Towners to 
abort their mission. They're nothing but a selfish group of anarchist 
carpetbaggers whose sole purpose is to destroy a place and people they 
don't give two hoots about."

(I'm not a member of the FSP by the way, just taking an interest.)

	The Free State Project is an ambitious undertaking, whose ultimate 
goal is to move 20,000 libertarians to the state of New Hampshire, in 
order to form a libertarian state within the US. The Free Town Project, 
an offshoot, wants to take this further still by moving to a specific 
town and establishing a libertarian town government, free from 
mandatory recycling and beautification ordinances. Needless to say, 
many FSP members are distancing themselves from the FTP.

And what's got Gregg Ramsay, the author of the op-ed, so hot and 
bothered? Crazed Free Staters on the Internet posting garbage like 
this: "We don't want their honey, we do want them out of their hives. 
If they sting we swat, and if they don't wise up we torch the hive." 
And this: "[we should] ensure that the Town Police are never allowed to 
waste valuable Town resources (taken from the residents as taxes AT THE 
POINT OF A GUN)."

The back-story is that the Free Town Project has chosen to colonize 
Grafton due to its lax zoning laws. But whose fault are those laws? 
There's not much you can do if people choose to buy land and build 
houses in your town. Still, they're going to put up a fight. I've 
experienced small-government politics and I know how ugly these things 
can get. Idealism goes right out the window when people feel their 
homes or their way of life is threatened. Sure it's xenophobic, but I'm 
just trying to be realistic here. The Free Towners (and Free Staters by 
proxy) should try to make friends, not enemies. After all these are 
their future neighbors.

Granted it's not wise for Gregg Ramsay (professor at Pace University in 
NY, according to the article) to respond to anything posted on the 
Internet. People say a lot of stupid things on the net and it's best to 
ignore it. I have a feeling that he found the worst of the several 
thousand messages posted to the Free Town Project mailing list and 
wrote an article about it. No libertarians have yet moved to Grafton 
and tried to take over his precious town, but he is worried that they'd 
"legalize drugs, prostitution, incest and other crimes they refer to as 
'victimless.'"

I'm recommending that libertarians tone down their cult-like rhetoric, 
and in return non-libertarians should honestly consider whether the 
ideals of small government and personal responsibility are really that 
harmful.

To: Zealous Free Staters
Yeah, it's terrible that they're xenophobic and the landlords are 
refusing to rent to you. But you brought it upon yourselves for being 
SO confrontational. Did you have to call the townies socialists at the 
town meeting? Was that really necessary? Tone down the "omg government 
jackboots taking taxes at the point of a gun, I live my life for no 
other man, imperialist pig" talk. Even outside of the FSP, this kind of 
rhetoric does NOTHING for the libertarian cause. Lasting change doesn't 
happen overnight. You can't expect to achieve a free state tomorrow.

To: Gregg Ramsay
You're a big-government liberal, and we (libertarians) disagree with 
you. I understand that you think you're smarter than everyone else, and 
you want to ban things that you believe are harmful to society. Yes you 
do, it's your party platform. But saying things like "[their] sole 
purpose is to destroy a place and people they don't give two hoots 
about" isn't helping my estimate of your IQ. Obviously that's not the 
intent of the project. There may be a few bad apples, but hey: are the 
current Grafton residents ALL perfect? Don't think you're any better 
than the FSP members. And geez, toughen up a little. People say all 
kinds of things online. If you read something online that you dislike, 
it doesn't mean you have to write a whole indignant article about it.

Of course, maybe I should take my own advice on that one.

Kuro5hin previously covered the creation of the Free State Project and 
the selection of New Hampshire as the "free state."

Full discussion: http://www.kuro5hin.org/story/2004/6/21/19280/4046

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