Archive for the ‘Liberalism’ Category
Libertarians v Democracy
If you’re able to brace yourself for a long read, this is really worth a look. It picks up a lot of threads found in Bobbio’s Liberalism and Democracy though it is written from the libertarian end of the argument. It is, however, deeply critical of the way that libertarians engage with their opponents and it focusses a great deal upon the shortcomings of libertarian arguments.
“…if libertarian-style politics seems especially unnatractive to members of formerly oppressed and disenfranchised groups, maybe that’s because it is reasonable to suspect that a politics that focuses relentlessly on the inviolability of property rights in a system that once treated people as property, and for centuries denied much of the population the chance to accumulate any property, is a politics meant to protect those who reap the gains of a still-rigged and unjust system.”
And if you’re not in the mood for reading a good long post, just skip down to the comments – comment number five from ‘anonymous coward.’
(Via Stumbling & Mumbling)