[Buddha-l] Buddhism and Libertarianism (was: Buddhism and Politics)

[curt]

In my opinion the relevant thing is that Libertarianism
and Buddhism share a common positive attitude toward
human nature. While "Buddhism" is a difficult beast to
define (as difficult as any - probably more difficult than
most), nevertheless the idea that human birth is a good
thing - and that, in particular, beings obtain a human
birth precisely because of past "good" (as in ethical)
behavior, is widely accepted in Buddhism. I think it is
safe to say that among "mainstream" Buddhists the idea
is universally accepted. By "mainstream" I would include
Theravadin, Tantric and East Asian Mahayana. I would
be very interested to know if there are any actual exceptions.

But when it comes to "Libertarianism" there is a greater
need for being precise about which Libertarianism one is
talking about. Certainly the variety of Libertarianism
associated with Ayn Rand and Milton Friedman does not
give the impression of a positive view of human nature.
Fortunately - that ain't real Libertarianism - any more
than "National Socialism" is real socialism. Real Libertarianism
has always been promoted by people who believe that
governments are an unnecessary and inevitably harmful
instititution - and that without government human beings
would be capable of living together peacefully and harmoniously.
But unlike Ayn Rand & Co., who might claim to agree with
the previous sentence, "real" Libertarians have also always noted
that government is the primary institution devoted to maintaining
the socio-economic status quo - and that a social revolution to end
economic oppression will also bring about the end of government.
In other words, real Libertarians have always combined the idea
of socialism with libertarianism. This kind of libertarianism has
also been known as Anarchism - going back as far as Proudhon
and continuing to this day with the likes of Chomsky.

In practice Libertarianism and Buddhism go in quite different
directions - but I think they share an important fundamental
assumption about the nature of humanity. But this is not true of
Buddhism and that "other" Libertarianism - which share nothing
in common from the get go.

- Curt

Richard P. Hayes wrote:

>On Wed, 2005-07-27 at 15:22 -0400, curt wrote:
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>>A libertine is a person who does as she or he
>>pleases. 
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>Stay on the topic of Buddhism, if you please.
>
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