Arnold Kling: From Left to Libertarian
An excellent essay.
Kling writes:
Kling writes:
I travelled the route from Far Left to libertarian. I think that quite a few libertarians have travelled that route, and yet I cannot think of anyone who has gone the other direction. This leads me to suspect that:
1. Far Leftists and libertarianism have much in common.
2. Libertarians know something that Far Leftists do not.
What I believe that Far Leftists and libertarians have in common includes:
1. A passion for social and political issues. I grew up in a household where the dinner conversation often was politics.
Far Leftists and libertarians both care more than the average person about what goes on in public policy.
2. Frustration with political incumbents. Far Leftists and libertarians both have a tendency to exaggerate the flaws in Presidents while in office and to overstate the virtues of past leaders. For example, Presidents Clinton and Kennedy are much more popular with the Far Left today than when they were in office. Similarly, during his Administration, President Reagan was considered a disappointment by libertarians.
3. Anti-elitism. Both Far Leftists and libertarians are willing to reject what they see as elitist views among politicians and political pundits.
What I believe that Libertarians have learned is what social psychologists call the Fundamental Attribution Error. The error is to attribute behavior to a person's character when this behavior is in fact based on context. In one classic experiment, the subject is asked to watch a person read a speech that the subject knows that the speaker did not write. Subjects attribute to the person the beliefs contained in the speech.
The Far Left believes that bad policies come from evil motives. In this view, villains, such as powerful corporations, oppose good policies, and political incumbents lack the strength and courage to overcome the villains.
Libertarians believe that context is more important. We believe that government power is inherently corrupting, regardless of who holds leadership positions or how they are influenced. We believe that the market does a relatively good job of channelling self-interest toward socially desirable ends.
Posted by Andy Morriss on
Thursday September 28, 2006 at 7:08pm
SS @ berkeley
Far Leftists do not regard Clinton and Kennedy highly. I don't know what Kling considers Far Left, but perusing the Counterpunch website is good evidence that the Far Left still hates them both, albeit not as much as Bush. I ran the phrase "bill clinton" through Google's Adavanced Search, restricting the results to counterpunch.org. The results are not complimentary.
And Reagan was a disappointment. Cut taxes on the rich, raise them on the poor, borrow money to build a gigantic military, drug war escalation, supporting brutal dictators worldwide if they were "our" dictators, etc. What kind of libertarian thinks Reagan did well?
[Libertarians] believe that the market does a relatively good job of channelling self-interest toward socially desirable ends.
Libertarians don't care about "social desirable ends". We care about individual rights.
- Josh