Hey hipsters, liberty is the new left

It was bound to happen. Libertarian is the new left.


Decentralization defines this new spectrum. Decentralization and liberalization are our best defense against those who would take us down the road to serfdom. Isn't that the great lesson of the 20th century? Yes, yes, in so many ways, but ...

Wait! Just one question.

Looking at this diagram, wouldn't anarchy be on the left?

No, I'd say... it's somewhere on the right.

Constitutional law, grounded in the American Declaration of Independence, with its presumption of liberty, with its limited powers, with its mixed republic, with its elections and juries, with its federalism, with its measured taxation, would stand to the left. True progress comes from the respect each of us has for a certain sphere of innocence and independent action that attaches to every person in his or her individual life and social interactions. The rights in this sphere are equal, innumerable, and inalienable. They do not conflict. They are natural. They are neutral. Creative people thrive in this freedom and build the world without having to ask permission. The Declaration of Independence is far left. It calls for a revolution in our thinking, in our culture, of which we have barely scratched the surface. The Constitution, in its art, merely tries to measure up.

As for the rest of the spectrum, amid the legal anarchy, you might find semblances of law. Perfunctory law would lie somewhere in the middle, going through the motions. Zombie law would patrol on the right, dead yet walking, and arbitrary.

Liberty and anarchy are distinct and opposed, as are liberty and collectivism. If you think libertarianism means anarchism and no taxes, then you can call me a liberal.

Whatever you call it when someone says, "Hey, liberty's deck," that thingamajig is the new left. Liberalization defines the new spectrum. Yes, then I'd agree.

Liberty is the new left.

Source for diagram: A political spectrum that makes sense by Jim Ostrowski.

UPDATE: Little Venice, as it slides towards legal anarchy and little dictatorship, takes its rightful place on this spectrum.

• Chávez Threatens to Jail Price Control Violators by Simon Romero, New York Times.


• Chavez to Decree Supermarket Law, Associated Press, published by Forbes.


• Chavez threat to seize food shops, BBC News


• Chavez to rule by decree, legislature says, Deutsche Presse-Agentur, published by Monsters & Critics (note comments)


• Venezuelan faces fine for satire, by Christopher Toothacher, AP, published by the San Jose Mercury News (so come again, which way is the horse on Venezuela's coat-of-arms facing?)


• Chavez's New Policies Divide Venezuela, PBS's Newshour, Feb 13, 2007

According to Venezuela's 1999 Bolivarian Constitution,

Artículo 114. El ilícito económico, la especulación, el acaparamiento, ... y otros delitos conexos, serán penados severamente de acuerdo con la ley.

According to an unofficial translation available at the website for the Embassy of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela in the United States of America, this translates to,

Article 114: Economic crime, speculation, hoarding, ... and other related offenses, shall be punished severely in accordance with law.

Here we have some conflicted commentary on PBS's Chavez report, by a team caught up in the old political spectrum.

• Chavez's Venezuela, The New Standard

So last century.

Update (Dec 6, 2007): Reality starts to hit, according to this report on Newshour with Jim Lehrer.



Reference:
Solonian Journal - On Rights