[extropy-chat] Why I am No Longer a Libertarian Either...

Mike Lorrey mlorrey at yahoo.com
Tue Jul 26 23:37:08 UTC 2005



--- Al Brooks <kerry_prez at yahoo.com> wrote:

> Would you survey & critique what's at this link? Rafal Smigrodzki
> looked at it and pronounced it  "communism". Maybe it is. The more I
> see how devious intellectuals are, the more it appears they would
> spray a turd with whipped cream and say 'here's dessert'.
> http://www.prout.org

Progressive Utilization Theory:
"Economic Democracy
Political democracy and economic democracy are mutually inclusive.
PROUT advocates economic democracy based on local economic planning,
cooperatively managed businesses, local governmental control of natural
resources and key industries, and socially agreed upon limits on the
individual accumulation of wealth. By decentralizing the economy and
making sure decision-making is in the hands of local people, we can
ensure the adequate availability of food, shelter, clothing, health
care and education for all. 

A decentralized economy can better ensure that the ecological systems
of the earth are not exploited beyond their capacity to renew
themselves. Environmental stewardship is a requisite for people who are
dependent upon these systems for their own survival and well-being. 

Basic Necessities Guaranteed to All
The basic necessities of life must be a constitutional birth right of
all members of society. People cannot attain their highest human
potential if they lack food, shelter, clothing, health care and
education. Meaningful employment with a living wage must be planned to
ensure adequate purchasing capacity for all basic necessities. The
standard of guaranteed minimum necessities should advance with
increases in the economy's productive capacity. "

This isn't quite communist, but is distributionist/communitarian with
heavy Green/Soviet overtones (like, for example, what happens to people
who don't want this sort of society, or communities who don't want it?
Are they put up against a wall and shot?), as if individual property
ownership does not connote 'environmental stewardship'.

I would estimate that where Georgism resides in the left wing of
Libertarian territory, PROUTism is over the line in solid left-liberal territory.

Mike Lorrey
Vice-Chair, 2nd District, Libertarian Party of NH
"Necessity is the plea for every infringement of human freedom.
It is the argument of tyrants; it is the creed of slaves."
                                      -William Pitt (1759-1806) 
Blog: http://intlib.blogspot.com

__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Tired of spam?  Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around 
http://mail.yahoo.com 



More information about the extropy-chat mailing list