kfl%mx.lcs.mit.edu@MC.LCS.MIT.EDU (08/16/86)
From: Terry C. Savage <TCS@USC-ECL.ARPA>
The [Libertarian] party would do a great deal better if candidates
would adopt specific policy positions closer to the mainstream,but
in the "proper" direction.
I don't know. The Democrats have tried the invisible plank aproach
and it doesn't seem to get many votes.
Trouble is, these positions aren't "ideologically pure", and we
(Libertarians) can be as fanatic/unreasonable about the details of
our ideology as anybody else.
Well, it is one thing to claim that taxes are immoral, and quite
another to claim that the current tax RATE is immoral and should be
a few percent less. The latter claim just sounds silly. Once you
concede the necessity of involuntary taxation, it is just a matter
of deciding what the tax rate should be and what deductions should
be allowed. Nobody has the moral high ground.
Thomas Jefferson made the same sort of compromise. He knew that he
would just sound 'weird' if he were to completely oppose slavery. So
he advocated abolition of the overseas slave trade, laws against
cruelty to slaves, etc. This may have been the only reasonable
compromise at the time. Quite likely he would never have been a major
political figure had he come out for total abolition of slavery.
Unfortunately, many people today tend to look down on him and
disregard his writings based on his pro-slavery stance.
Well, if I were running for president I would perhaps tone down my
stance. But I am not. I have to call them as I see them. And as I
see it taxation, zoning laws, and victimless crime laws are as totally
wrong as slavery was. I only hope the change to a libertarian society
can be made without the bloodshed associated with the abolition of
slavery.
Realistically, Libertarians have little chance of winning major
elections in the near term. The best thing we can do at this point is
to expose our viewpoint to as many people as possible. While a
compromise position may be useful at winning elections, it is not
useful in explaining one's true position.
...Keith
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