I like this libertarian theme to weave Reform UK’s values and policies together. It cuts through to individuals from all spectrums of society as everyone will have at least one example of where state overreach / control has frustrated, complicated or limited their potential or goals.
Failed Libertarian here. I'll be interested to see the doctrinal clashes between your lib wing and the Christian conservatives such as Messrs. Kruger and Orr, whose religiosity jars with voters such as I. Broad churches, when in power, narrow. I hope there's a lib looking over their shoulders, whispering, 'not *too* much God, okay?' in their ears.
The libs aren't in the chair though, are they? Messrs Orr and Kruger are. Reform need to be careful - religious observance, like it or not, is now a minority endeavour.
Not sure who’s in the chair or whether Reform has a particular ideology. What works and what is not what the other lot are doing may be enough. I hope Orr and Kruger provide some gravitas and a moral edge - without using the religious label. Most people don’t like the label but will like the content.
Libertarians are often contradictory in their approach to the market and alas I don’t necessarily have the answers. Let us take inheritance- this is the worst form of unearned wealth. The market is there to ensure liberty but extreme inequality leads to an erosion of those freedoms - either by making the playing field so uneven people are shut out of the market or by raising the spectre of revolution.
On the other hand, those who waste their inheritance don’t last long in the gene pool. Agree there’s a balancing act. A clever tax policy would skim enough to benefit the state while allowing people to work hard and pass on their property, preferably spreading it widely.
Yes but Farridge..........was up front & central in calling for Bliar to be put in charge of the push for mandatory injections of an experimental medication at the time of Convid. Libertarian ?
A lapsing libertarian here. Also I don’t think there is much electoral value in libertarianism - not for now, short of national economic collapse when there is no other option. On the other hand, the argument is there to be had, and if Reform is to succeed (and no pressure there) it almost needs to meld two ideas pulling in opposing directions. You need an efficient state that empowers individuals to take risks and be rewarded for their own efforts. You also need a moral state that protects the weak from the oppressive and provides decent public services for those in need (without creating disincentives). Will take some mental gymnastics to get this right. Here’s more in hope than anything else.
Also Locke indicated that we could only lay claim to property that man had mixed his labour with undermining the role of capital as the determinant of legal ownership
The Oxford Von Mises Soc were extremely lucky to have your take on ‘where we are and how we got here’. Reform U.K. is hope writ large…if time and better discipline permits.
Spot on with Locke, who provides us with the way forward. As a half-Scot, I must insist on the importance of George Buchanan a century before and his interpretation of Romans 13, which provided the intellectual foundation for limited sovereignty in the British Isles.
I like this libertarian theme to weave Reform UK’s values and policies together. It cuts through to individuals from all spectrums of society as everyone will have at least one example of where state overreach / control has frustrated, complicated or limited their potential or goals.
Hopefully, Reform can become the party both of liberty and of law and order. Tough on crime, but supportive of freedom overall.
Forget Blair's "tough on crime, tough on the causes of crime"
Howzabout "tough on crime, that's it"
Failed Libertarian here. I'll be interested to see the doctrinal clashes between your lib wing and the Christian conservatives such as Messrs. Kruger and Orr, whose religiosity jars with voters such as I. Broad churches, when in power, narrow. I hope there's a lib looking over their shoulders, whispering, 'not *too* much God, okay?' in their ears.
Conversely I hope there’s a Christian conservative whispering in the libertarian ear …
The libs aren't in the chair though, are they? Messrs Orr and Kruger are. Reform need to be careful - religious observance, like it or not, is now a minority endeavour.
Not sure who’s in the chair or whether Reform has a particular ideology. What works and what is not what the other lot are doing may be enough. I hope Orr and Kruger provide some gravitas and a moral edge - without using the religious label. Most people don’t like the label but will like the content.
Libertarians are often contradictory in their approach to the market and alas I don’t necessarily have the answers. Let us take inheritance- this is the worst form of unearned wealth. The market is there to ensure liberty but extreme inequality leads to an erosion of those freedoms - either by making the playing field so uneven people are shut out of the market or by raising the spectre of revolution.
On the other hand, those who waste their inheritance don’t last long in the gene pool. Agree there’s a balancing act. A clever tax policy would skim enough to benefit the state while allowing people to work hard and pass on their property, preferably spreading it widely.
Excellent. Any chance of you getting to speak at the Oxford Union?
Yes but Farridge..........was up front & central in calling for Bliar to be put in charge of the push for mandatory injections of an experimental medication at the time of Convid. Libertarian ?
A lapsing libertarian here. Also I don’t think there is much electoral value in libertarianism - not for now, short of national economic collapse when there is no other option. On the other hand, the argument is there to be had, and if Reform is to succeed (and no pressure there) it almost needs to meld two ideas pulling in opposing directions. You need an efficient state that empowers individuals to take risks and be rewarded for their own efforts. You also need a moral state that protects the weak from the oppressive and provides decent public services for those in need (without creating disincentives). Will take some mental gymnastics to get this right. Here’s more in hope than anything else.
Also Locke indicated that we could only lay claim to property that man had mixed his labour with undermining the role of capital as the determinant of legal ownership
The Oxford Von Mises Soc were extremely lucky to have your take on ‘where we are and how we got here’. Reform U.K. is hope writ large…if time and better discipline permits.
Spot on with Locke, who provides us with the way forward. As a half-Scot, I must insist on the importance of George Buchanan a century before and his interpretation of Romans 13, which provided the intellectual foundation for limited sovereignty in the British Isles.