Soundboard of a Young Contrarian

October 22, 2013

On Saturday, a coalition of critics of the U.S. surveillance establishment will gather in Washington D.C., under the banner Stop Watching Us for a rally asking Congress to “stop the NSA’s unconstitutional mass surveillance.”

[…]

This is a vital cause, and I agree with it.

Yet I cannot support this coalition or the rally. It is fatally compromised by the prominent leadership and participation of the Libertarian Party and other libertarian student groups; their hard-core ideology stands in direct opposition to almost everything I believe in as a social democrat.

—

Tom Watson

I’m a little bewildered by this article and I’m struggling to wrap my head around its logic. The author believes libertarianism to be a poisonous ideology that is, at its root, deeply, even dangerously, conservative. Therefore, to collaborate with libertarians in pursuit of a common goal ultimately helps to advance a worldview that promotes, despite its posturing, an authoritarian society. I guess my response to this is “huh?”

If progressives and social democrats spent their time exclusively in the company of like-minded activists, they’d find themselves in small groups, participating in esoteric debates that do nothing to advance larger goals, such as ending mass surveillance, cutting an obscenely large defense budget, repealing drug laws, or protecting civil liberties. If political change is going to occur, there must be some force behind it, whether it’s a large crowd of protesters or a well-funded advocacy group. The more souls linking arms and demanding change, the better.

If a libertarian Republican homemaker from Tennessee feels compelled to join a 20-something New York socialist in order to protest mass surveillance, why would anyone seek to destroy that coalition in favor of a smaller, less inclusionary, and less powerful group? To shun fellow Americans seeking to join your cause because you dislike the totality of their political beliefs is not only rude and self-defeating, it runs contrary to the vision of what America is supposed to be: a unified, diverse, and engaged citizenry fighting together to protect each other’s rights.

(via prettayprettaygood)

LTMC: Imagine for a moment that the republican party was replaced entirely by the Libertarian party. The consensus that Progressive Democrats and Libertarians would have is broad indeed:

- End the War on Terror

- End the War on Drugs

- End Mass Incarceration

- End Mass Surveillance

- End the TSA

- Increase oversight of police

- Increase prisoner’s rights

- Demilitarize domestic policing

- Cut military spending

- End U.S. Imperialist foreign policy

This is just the short list. The amount of common ground between Progressive Democrats and Libertarians far outstrips the amount of common ground between Libertarians and Republicans. It is foolish and stupid to reject an alliance between Progressives and Libertarians simply because the former disagrees with the latter on economics, taxes, and healthcare policy.

Tom Watson is 100% wrong on this one. And he’s doing more damage to Progressive causes by refusing to associate with people who disagree with him. If Alan Grayson and Dennis Kucinich can work with Ron Paul to co-sponsor an anti-war bill, Watson should be unafraid to make common cause with Libertarians who share his beliefs on mass surveillance.

(via letterstomycountry)

1:06am | URL: https://tmblr.co/ZzzMyvyJXNRj

(Notes: 64)