Libertarians and Immigration
There’s quite a few fairly liberal people out there who often call themselves libertarians. They like to talk about individual freedom, free trade, free markets, all good liberal stuff.
They then throw all that out of the window by talking about the great threat of immigration. Perhaps only people in the country they live in are allowed the freedom to make the best of their lives? The only libertarian view I can see is that free movement of people should be allowed. If the state’s job is to protect those people in the state from violence then they can still do that whilst allowing people into the country. To assume that the immigrant is intent on violence against those already in the country is quite frankly racist.
This is the case with UKIP who are generally a small government liberal party but throw it all out when it comes to nationalism and immigration where they tend towards the nationalist and xenophobic.
This puts me in mind of the clash which brought about Thatcherism. Thatcher was heavily influenced by liberals like Hayek and Friedman, but was also a conservative and a nationalist. She sought to free people economically but failed to accept liberalism in the social and international sphere. She therefore created a strange hybrid which worked both for and against freedom. She privatised state monopolies and freed up the economy a huge amount, but also centralised power and encouraged jingoism and nationalism.
This has had the unfortunate effect of tainting the free market ideas of liberalism for many, a process which has continued with New Labour’s pretense of free market reforms whilst garnering more power to the centre.
It also means that many look towards the Tories for liberal ideas, and with Cameron’s rise and increased statism they look towards UKIP. The Liberal Democrats are dismissed as nannying, high taxing statist meddlers (a reputation we sometimes deserve it must be said).
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May 2nd, 2007 at 8:02 pm
The simple answer is that many people who refer to themselves as ‘libertarians’ are nothing of the kind: they are merely ultra-Thatcherites.
August 16th, 2007 at 1:26 am
Another simple answer is that many people who refer to themselves as ‘libertarians’ are nothing of the kind: they are merely like the sound of the ideaology. And when unpleasant real-world realites begin to intrude they are forced to step back from ideaology and adopt at least some pragmatic views.