There are lots of quotes by one Margaret Thatcher on Australian Libertarians. She must be something of a pinup girl for a blogger called Stephen Dawson.
One entry that caught my tired eye is this quote on the nation-state from Maggie Thatcher :
"My view was -- and is -- that an effective internationalism can only be built by strong nations which are able to call upon the loyalty of their citizens to defend and enforce civilized rules of international conduct. An internationalism which seeks to supersede the nation-state, however, will founder quickly upon the reality that very few people are prepared to make genuine sacrifices for it. It is likely to degenerate, therefore, into a formula for endless discussion and hand-wringing." [Emphasis added]
What libertarianism got to do with supporting the nation state? National borders are a constraint on human liberty and freedom of movement. The nation state is al about the concentration of power. The nation state is the home of conservatism.
I thought that libertarianism was about freeing people from the constraints of traditional political institutions; and a radical form of laissez-faire in which the economic activity must be actively liberated from the bondage of needless political constraints (including the nation state) in order to achieve prosperity.
Libertarianism has to do with the free (global) market not defending the nation state. Or should we say that this quote represents the conservative moment in Australian libertarianism; the way that these two different discourses currently overlap.
Posted by Gary Sauer-Thompson at May 15, 2003 09:02 PM | TrackBack