You might remember Canada’s Tim Moen, who is running for a seat
in Parliament from Alberta, from
Nick Gillespie’s blogging about his inspirational campaign
slogan “I want gay married couples to be able to protect their
marijuana plants with guns,” or from his appearance on Fox
Business’ The Independents (see clip at bottom of
post).
Like all libertarians of any stripe, Moen feels on occasion a
bit put upon by other libertarians telling him he’s doing it wrong.
He has
written an interesting defense of being a libertarian and
seeking elective office from libertarians who find the state and
elections an inherently un-libertarian snare:
I have blogged at length, produced videos, talked with
people in my personal life, produced podcasts and engaged in online
debates to advance the message of liberty. I have never received a
whole lot of response or feedback from people outside the liberty
community itself. I have been happy to contribute to thought
within this community and have felt it to be gratifying.Preaching to the choir has been relatively safe. Stepping out on
this limb of political campaigning has been intensely scary.
Imagine standing alone in front of a church of devout christians
that you are about to try and disabuse of their faith…that is
what this feels like. As I’ve been delivering this message to the
faithful I have had an overwhelming response from many of the
members and it is giving me hope and evidence that I am doing
something that is far more effective than anything I’ve
done….Moen then explains some of the things that would have to proven
to him to convince him that “what I’m doing [running for office] is
harmful to the liberty movement.”
Those include:
Show me that preaching to the converted is more effective than
reaching out to the “lost” in my particular circumstances.Provide me with evidence that I could be doing something
more effective….ME, not you or someone else and not some Platonic
version of me thats in your head…..Explain to me how someone who is committed to peace and
non-aggression taking a spot that would otherwise be occupied by a
politician interested in using the guns of government is not making
the world safer?
Moen then turns around the complaint that “libertarian
does something counterproductive for liberty” back on the
complainers:
Is criticizing me a good use of your time fellow activists? I
suppose it is if you have good reason to believe I’m going to harm
your mission and if you don’t have something more productive to be
doing then please continue fighting the good fight, present a
coherent argument that I’m causing harm. Is it possible that it is
simply easier and safer to criticize me than to try and enter into
hostile territory yourself? If evidence suggests that the amount of
delusion in the hearts and minds of men is falling at a more rapid
rate from the form of activism I’m taken than the form you are
taking will you consider a course correction in your own
activism?
It’s a grand thing to avoid or evade the state. But it’s there.
Is it a bad thing for liberty if people who understand libertarian
principles seek its office and deliver its message within one of
the few contexts in which most people are prepared to think about
political ideas–elections?
Moen wants his fellow libertarians to answer that question with
a “no.”
For example, it seems quite clear to me that any random person
on the Internet trying to spread Moen’s colorful slogan would get
zero attention. But when someone running for
office does, well, that’s news. And seems to me there is
nothing wrong with a libertarian taking advantage of that
dynamic.
Moen on The Independents:
from Hit & Run http://ift.tt/NLMopR
via IFTTT