A Call For Radical Utopianism & Political Entrepreneurship
I assume by now everyone back in Australia would have seen the famous “Rick Santelli Rant” from a few weeks back. If not, check it out here:
No really, do actually watch it. Seriously.
What is interesting to me is not the rant, so much as what followed. Essentially this rant inspired spontaneous grassroots “tea-parties” across the USA. Non-political individuals – ordinary people - who were fed up with the creeping socialism that is coming from the Administration coming together to protest. Tens of thousands of people.
Although some advocacy organisations helped co-ordinate some of them, this was for the most part an organic, bottom-up movement.
A libertarian friend of mine quite high up in the Liberal Party (yes a few still exist!) emailed me shortly after, saying that this “Really cuts to the core of why American conservatism is better than Australian conservatism – we are conservative in a literal, preserve the status quo way. Their brand of conservatism is inherently revolutionary – I love it!”
Irrespective of your thoughts on fusionism, I believe a similar critique can be made of classical liberals/libertarians within Australia. However, I think that there is more to it than this, and that a further argument that can be made regarding the political culture within which small government types operate in Australia:
We have many political operatives in Australia, but we chronically lack political entrepreneurs.
What do I mean by this? I mean that – for the most part – those of us on the small-government side of things, irrespective of whether we classify ourselves as conservative or libertarian, have an inherently conservative approach to politics, and and do not show the initiative or risk-taking necessary to succeed.While the left have almost perfected the art of direct-messaging to people and engaging in effective issues advocacy (and do so via ‘spontaneous’ mass actions and campaigns generated by individuals) we tend to stick to safe and sure methods, being practical and seeking to only win the battle of ideas in the abstract, not the practical. As a general rule (and obviously there are exceptions) we – as individuals – do not go out there and try to actually do something.
I offer a few quotes from the brilliance of Hayek, who wrote in The Intellectuals and Socialism:
John Stossel: Reason.tv interview.
A really good interview with Stossel giving his views on many of the important issues of our time. This is the first part which is close to ten minutes, and for those who have more time on their hands, the second part is great as well. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JIkkHt2s-0k
At around the seven minute mark, a point is made that I haven’t seen made in a long time, possibly since I read, (I think) “The Incredible Bread Machine,” back in the 70s:
Interviewer; … like you can pass a minimum wage law and go and interview the happy employee of Burger King who just had her wage boosted but you can’t interview the person that doesn’t know that he wasn’t going to get hired.
Stossel; That’s part of it, its certainly hard to show the people who are hurt by government programs that take two cents from everyone or prevents a job from being created, you can’t take a picture of that. But that’s not just television, I think intuitively its hard to get, intuitively the minimum wage makes sense, we want to help poor people raise the minimum wage, its hard for people to understand to understand how that hurts people. …
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