Arnold Kling's TCS article, From Far Left To Libertarian, is one of the more interesting things I've read lately:
The question of how I became a libertarian ultimately is a question about how I changed my mental model of the political system from one of "good guys vs. villains" to one of the importance of limited government, individual liberty, and personal responsibility. 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.
I think Kling's ideas apply equally for those who move from conservative to libertarian.
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.
Notice that Kling's point is entirely utilitarian, that libertarianism produces better outcomes, and ignores the ethical point, that coercively managing society is inherently immoral.
A couple of points I should add - Kling's move from 'Far Left' to libertarian is more about the move from elitist societal management to a governmental model emphasizing freedom than anything to do with the more familiar left vs right political model, which is why it also applies to people who move from rightist to libertarian.
Also, if Kling's article gains traction, I'm sure we'll see a number of leftists claiming to be 'former libertarians' in order to discredit him.
Posted by Walter at September 28, 2006 07:10 PMI don't know about "Far Left," but, then, I don't know how Arnold Kling defines that (to many people it means Al Gore, rather than, say, ANSWER or the Revolutionary Communist Party), but, then, I don't know anyone who is part of the "Far Left" -- an actual communist, say -- who I don't think is entirely wrongheaded in a stupendous way.
But I've known several people to go from strong libertarianism to fairly sympathetic to, say, Democrats. Jim Henley and Bruce Baugh, just to name two you might be familiar with to some degree., as well as maybe the folks at Inactivist, for instance, just for starters. (And a variety of individuals you'd not know from a hole in the wall.)
I'm no more surprised at folks from the Far Left going to major libertarianism than becoming extremist conservatives (David Horowitz, most of the neo-conservative movement): people to whom Big Ideas tend to appeal tend to often not change in that. Believing moderately in a whole bunch of small and conflicting principles tends to be a far more radical change. (Does David Brock count as going from right to left?)
Posted by: Gary Farber at October 1, 2006 03:29 PMKling's use of 'far-left' is problematic. I'd have said 'doctrinaire left' or something denoting philosophic leftism.
Don't know about Baugh, as for Henley I understand him to remain a libertarian but willing to vote Democratic as an anti-war and anti-Bushite gesture. I'm sure there are many who share that stance.
Left to Right movement, or vice versa, I regard as philosophically trivial, although socially significant.
Walter, you really need to install a captcha to keep those spammer vermin out of your comments.
Posted by: Perry de Havilland at October 7, 2006 05:00 PMHello, Walter. I cannot figure out how to post comments at your RM Roundups. I have two blogs written in the Rocky Mountain area. Thanks for any help.
Posted by: Stephanie at October 9, 2006 01:04 PMStephanie, the Rocky Mountain Blog Roundup is published periodically, although not recently. Eventually it will reappear. Stay tuned for an upcoming announcement.
Posted by: Walter at October 12, 2006 06:55 PMWalter,
I've selected your blog for inclusion in the Libertarian blog aggregator at Libertarian.zebby.org
I hope this helps increase your readership. If you'd like to return the favor, we have stickers available on our page.
Thanks!
Posted by: Jeff Day at October 23, 2006 04:07 PM