Democrats Risk Losing a Generation to Cynical Libertarianism

[lhooq]

141. Not a cynical libertarianism but an enlightened anarchism

I really doubt that many of the young, disgusted with George W. Obama's backsliding, are going to jump ship and join forces with the libertarian wing of the Republican Party. What is this libertarianism other than defense of the rights of the privileged to become even more privileged at the expense of everyone else? If Tweedledee is dysfunctional, then why should you expect tweedledum to be any better?

No, the threat to the Democratic Party, and also the hope too (in my opinion), is that the disgruntled young Democrats will turn to local solutions, communally created and run. When big government can't or won't deliver (e.g., affordable health insurance, because their state did not expand Medicaid, or affordable college tuition), then small government, the work of the people themselves, can fill the void. Here I am thinking of 1970s era books such as The Whole Earth Catalog and Our Bodies, Ourselves as well as the more recent book Worldchanging. I call this enlightened anarchism. It's taking back power from the corporate elite of both parties.

For example, because Obama government is going to continue to spy on you, you respond by taking cryptography and privacy into your own hands.

Overall, what's undermined in all of this is trust that big government can be effective at doing good for the public as a whole. FDR showed a strong federal government at its best -- through it the American people defeated the Great Depression, the Japanese, and the Nazis. In recent years, we have seen it at its worst.