Why Watered-Down Libertarianism Won’t Succeed

Thomas Luongo builds on my Why Libertarianism Will Succeed to make an excellent strategic point:

The point I’d like to make, of course, is that the dumbing down of the LP constitution to be more ‘centric-friendly’ will remove the passion from the party and therefore, will eventually, destroy it. The loss of that document, as Rothbard pointed out, removes that which made the LP distinct in the political landscape and why it could have so much impact with so few resources. By wanting to be liked so much, the LP has made the error of thinking that bad press is, well, bad. When, we all know that any press is good press. I tried hard to walk that fine line between practicality and principle in the LP of Florida only to find weak-willed neo-cons on the right of me and socialists-in-denial on the left of me.

I would just add that what I’m learning about another radical movement that succeeded, the early Church, completely fits Mr. Luongo’s point. Had the early church compromised and watered down “hardcore” doctrines then they might have avoided persecution and gained the approval of the mainstream in the short term. They would also have utterly failed to (eventually) win over Europe. Do you want to get some nice pats on the head by today’s establishment or change the world?

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1:36 pm on October 13, 2006