[Buddha-l] Re: Buddhism and Politics

[Steven Rhodes]

Dear Curt,

I believe that there is another way to look at the term "libertarian." 
 This is within the context of discerning two strands within 
conservatism:  the authoritarian and the libertarian.  An authoritarian 
conservative is one who wants to tell other adults how to conduct their 
lives (you may not take drugs, you may not gamble, you may not have 
abortions, etc.), whereas a libertarian conservative wants to minimize 
government control over one's personal affairs.  Some might see the 
latter as "compassionate," others may not.  How to correlate this with 
Buddhist thought escapes me at the moment.

Steven Rhodes

curt wrote:

> The word "libertarianism" has been hikacked by people
> that I like to refer to as "pot smoking republicans". Originally
> "libertarianism" referred exclusively to genuine Anarchists.
> As Albert Parsons said, just before he was hanged, "all
> Anarchists are Socialists, but not all Socialists are Anarchists".
> Errico Malatesta, the Italian Anarchist (I know that sounds
> redundant) also said "All Anarchists are Individualists, but
> not all Individualists are Anarchists." So an Anarchist, according
> to Parsons and Malatesta is someone who combines Socialism
> with Individualism.
> The important thing about this distinction (between the correct
> and incorrect use of the word libertarian) is that the incorrect
> usage perpetrates a view of individualism that sees individuals as
> inherently in conflict with each other. The Anarchist view of
> Individualism is that individuals are, by nature, compassionate
> and cooperative. While it is easy to scoff and sneer at such a
> breathtakingly naive view of human nature, it is nevertheless
> much closer to the Buddhist view of human nature. The right-
> wing libertarian view of human nature is, in my opinion, at
> the very least very difficult to reconcile with Buddhism.
>
> - Curt
>
> Bernie Simon wrote:
>
>> Dr. Hayes wrote:
>>
>>> No one on earth is uniformly conservative or progressive. I should hope
>>> almost everyone tries to find a good balance between conserving useful
>>> traditions and progressing to better ways of doing things than our
>>> ancestors dreamed possible. And I quite accept that this means no two
>>> people will quite agree on what is worth conserving and what needs 
>>> to be
>>> thrown out. That's why we all have no honest alternative to being
>>> liberal.
>>
>>
>>
>> I'll assume this is a joke.
>>
>> Conservatism and liberalism both have their virtues and deplorable 
>> excesses. To quote Buddhist guru Gov. Jerry Brown, it's like paddling 
>> a canoe: first you use the oar on the right side and then the left, 
>> or you go around in circles.
>>
>> Devotees of Buddhism and libertarianism (if there are any) will be 
>> pleased to learn of a weblog exploring the connections between the 
>> two: "Enlightened Liberty."
>>
>> http://prrometheus.blogspot.com/
>>
>> ----
>> I have read some books
>> and have grown quite brave (Bright Eyes)
>>
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>>
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