Arvin Vohra at LP.org:
Arvin Vohra
Recently, you suggested that Libertarianism is a dangerous ideology. I believe that if you take a moment to learn more about what Libertarians stand for, you may reconsider.
Rising ideologies have often been challenged as dangerous. Democracy was. So were women’s rights. So was Christianity, for that matter.
Libertarianism is a political philosophy of non-aggression. That means, we do not believe in using government force to achieve goals, but rather respect voluntary agreements between individuals.
Many Americans have callings we consider as important and noble as you consider yours. As an educator myself, I consider education as important as most clergy consider religion. All we ask is the same treatment the Catholic Church expects for itself: freedom from state regulation, freedom from taxes, and the right to follow your own morality as long as you harm no one else.
I know you wouldn’t like a government who knows much less about Catholicism than you do to tell you how to practice your religion. I assume you would not want the Catholic Church in America to face the same burdens that most people face.
In America, churches are relatively free of government taxation. They are also relatively free of many educational regulations that are used to get in the way of quality education: In many states, Catholic schools can ignore most of the ludicrous regulations that even private, secular schools must follow.
Libertarians want the same treatment for everyone. We want everyone to live free of taxation. We want every small business to be free of burdensome regulation (as Catholic schools often already are). We want entrepreneurs to be able to start businesses and create jobs without being blockaded by government regulation.
Libertarianism isn’t extreme selfishness. It’s voluntarism. It’s replacing forced government welfare that turns us into enemies, that has destroyed entire communities, that has become the standard alternative to work in many communities, with charities that work.
In fact, we’ve fought for the rights of people to feed the homeless – and been shut down by the state. Hunters for the homeless. Jewish grandmothers in New York, casinos buffets in Las Vegas, have been stopped by the government from feeding the homeless. Churches have been stopped from housing the homeless.
Just as the Catholic Church wants its adherent to follow their moral precepts, Libertarians want the same. We don’t want those opposed to violence to be forced to fund needless wars. The Libertarian Party believes in using the military for defense only, not to force western ideologies on those of different cultures. We want to bring our troops home to rejoin their families, and to stop interfering in the affairs of other countries.
Most importantly, by shrinking the state, we work to empower the individual. We want individuals to make choices freely, which helps both individuals and organizations. Today the Catholic Church has to earn the respect and commitment of its followers. It no longer relies on government forced conversions. The result: it’s a better church. It listens to its customers. It has competition, so customers can choose other religions. That is good for people, and it is also good for the Catholic church.
You’ve taken the time to attack Libertarianism. If you would like to take the time to learn more about Libertarianism, please visit us at LP.org, or contact us so we can share more information about our politics of empowerment.
I think Arvin’s letter was a smart way to steer some of the news coverage and commentary about Pope Francis’ comments towards the LP as such, rather than small libertarianism in general.
Well, Evan, unless you reject liberty and justice as concepts, you too–if we go by your own apparent standard of what amounts to a religion–abide by a religion. My guess is that your religion worships lots of guns carried by people in shiny badges and uniforms as the observable evidence for “social justice.”
It is always interesting to see two religions in conflict with each other.
Wow! Great response and insight, dL. Thank you.
ALL religious sects are contrary to individualism. They demand you follow the group think which is diametrically opposite individual. Of course the Pope gets the press since his mini-state (the church) is a great example of what political leaders (and pundits) want to happen and notice if you will the ‘plural’ reference; group think.
Obviously, they are intellectual enemies, not territorial ones. They are no battlefield armies here. The arena is time, not space. The source of conflict is conceptual and philosophical, and the time frame of this conflict starts w/ the enlightenment.
Libertarianism and Catholicism clash on both liberty and justice. However, it is the latter, not the former, where the two stand irreconcilable. “Social justice” is a catholic invention, the church response to liberal enlightenment and laissez faire. The term itself was coined by the Jesuit “Luigi Taparelli” in the 18th century. The abstraction underlies just about every rationale for statist redistribution..and it is has been canonized as an official core of Catholic social teaching for well over a century.
Libertarianism, of course, denies “social justice.” It views the state at best as a necessary evil…Ipso facto, as the organization of plunder. This view obviously is an anathema to the canon of catholic social theory which holds the state as a primary agent responsible for attaining the common good.
Even though catholic doctrine and libertarianism may clash over liberty, ultimately it is not religious authority(religious texts) the Church appeals to to contravene human liberty. Instead, it relies on an appeal to its social justice theory as a trump to human liberty.
The bottom line is that the Pope made some absurd statement about the invasion of libertarianism into the educational system. The pope is either senile or a shameless scapegoater. The proper response is not accommodation or mutual understanding…it is mockery. What is not a good response: pleading a case that libertarianism is not about “extreme selfishness,” but rather voluntarism. However, the Pope said:
By “selfish ideal,” the Pope meant voluntarism. As he articulated in the full context of his statement:
Arvin Vohra then comparing the Catholic Church to a business efficiently competing for customers is serving up your head on a platter to those folks. The Catholic church doesn’t think of itself in that way…and to them it would be exhibit A of the intrinsic limitations of liberal individualist thinking. You are sort of demonstrating their point.
No, you just need to raise roughly the same amount of money as them. A party of holy people is not required. However, it is helpful when “holy men” serve you up a softball, you do hit it out of the ball out of the park rather than serve your own self up as fodder.
dl, can you educate me in facts that we Libertarians openly fought the Catholic church?
Can you list the times in history that this happened? Or is this just an opinion that you have?
I agree , that the Catholic Church doesn’t love liberty, but we are a American political party, and if we do not go on facts, have all our i ‘s doted and t’s crossed we will never compete with the Rebloodlicans /Democrips. We need to be 1000% better than them to start to win elections!
In Liberty,
Matt Schutter
Carbon Pa LP Chairman
Libertarianism is a historical enemy to Catholic dirigiste. An open letter to the Pope is ridiculous. The proper response is to tell him to take his authority and stick it up his ass.