Hillsdale's political extremists, maybe not so extreme?
Brandon Muri
Issue date: 3/13/08 Section: Focus
The term libertarianism achieved brand-new "buzzword" status in the wake of the "Ron Paul Revolution," but the concept is nothing new to Hillsdale, where two philosophies buried deep in the nether-reaches of libertarianism have existed for years.
"A common image associated with these two ideologies is of open rebellion," senior Martin Kraegle said ironically, "But that is actually the exact opposite of what libertarianism stands for, which is non-violence, non-aggression."
Conservatives unfamiliar with these two ideologies agree with many of these so-called "radical" principles without knowing it, Kraegle said.
He said he believes the most basic and important role of the government is protection.
"The government isn't even doing that," he said.
"Look at what has happened to privacy in the wake of the 'Patriot Act' and what's going on with the drug wars and what we hear about excessive force used by police," he said.
"The biggest problem I see with the American government today is a tendency toward views that tend to propagate the welfare system," fellow anarcho-capitalist, senior Craig Ries said, "that the government is this powerful, benevolent, good, entity that should fix our problems for us,"
Ries said that when the government steps in to help, it is usually at the expense of citizens' rights.
Senior Gennady Stolyarov, a minarchist, expressed similar concerns. The American government blatantly violates the Constitution with its policies relating to the Federal Reserve, private property laws and "victimless crimes," he said.
"Governments which regulate things like drugs and prostitution - essentially regulating goodness, will be run by thugs," Stolyarov said.
To anarcho-capitalists, the ideal social system would allow individuals to form communities with similar individuals, living within a set of agreed-upon principles.
"This takes the popular notion of social unity, that everybody wants the same thing, and does the opposite, it assumes that people are different," Kraegle said.
In Kraegle's ideal society, conservative Christians could form their own community with their own value system and set of laws and a hippy community could do the same thing.
"I am not a utopian," Kraegle said emphatically, "I am not suggesting that this system would solve every problem. If people continue to exist as they always have, there will be conflicts."
Stolyarov, on the other hand, believes in a minimal government existing solely for protection.
He said many conservatives fear the absence of drug laws will lead to a moral decline. However, he believes that under a minimalist government people would still act in a moral way because of the incentives inherent in the system:
"[In a libertarian society] I could take drugs, but it would harm me physically, economically, and socially - these negative social and natural feedback mechanisms hinder a rational person from engaging in these kinds of activities."
He likens such a free market economy to Ebay. Buyers and sellers generally treat each other fairly because it is more lucrative to deal fairly than unfairly.
Kraegle said libertarianism is not amoral like some people think.
"I can name close to a dozen people [at Hillsdale] who are Bible-believing Christians and libertarians - many, in fact, would see their libertarian views as an extension of their faith," Kraegle said.
While the anarchist ideology may paint Kraegle as a radical, when it comes to participating in politics Kraegle said he is more of a pragmatist:
"I understand [anarcho-capitalism] is more of an academic and philosophical interest, I understand the concept may not be tangible, but that is not to say that I don't think it is not possible."
As of now, there have been no libertarian students found who advocate the complete dismantling of the U.S. government, evidence that Hillsdale's radicals prefer a revolution of ideas rather than guns.
"Right now, the majority of Americans rely on the government for many things - so it is not realistic to expect them to give that up," Kraegle said, "Libertarian ideas will not begin to take hold in America until people start to realize that we don't want the government controlling everything."
Unfortunately for those romantic notions of bandana-wearing, cigarette-chewing anarchists bouncing around in pick-up trucks, at least at Hillsdale, our libertarian extremists are rather docile and gracious.
For more information, visit Gennady Stolyarov's Web site at www.rationalargumentator.com
"A common image associated with these two ideologies is of open rebellion," senior Martin Kraegle said ironically, "But that is actually the exact opposite of what libertarianism stands for, which is non-violence, non-aggression."
Conservatives unfamiliar with these two ideologies agree with many of these so-called "radical" principles without knowing it, Kraegle said.
He said he believes the most basic and important role of the government is protection.
"The government isn't even doing that," he said.
"Look at what has happened to privacy in the wake of the 'Patriot Act' and what's going on with the drug wars and what we hear about excessive force used by police," he said.
"The biggest problem I see with the American government today is a tendency toward views that tend to propagate the welfare system," fellow anarcho-capitalist, senior Craig Ries said, "that the government is this powerful, benevolent, good, entity that should fix our problems for us,"
Ries said that when the government steps in to help, it is usually at the expense of citizens' rights.
Senior Gennady Stolyarov, a minarchist, expressed similar concerns. The American government blatantly violates the Constitution with its policies relating to the Federal Reserve, private property laws and "victimless crimes," he said.
"Governments which regulate things like drugs and prostitution - essentially regulating goodness, will be run by thugs," Stolyarov said.
To anarcho-capitalists, the ideal social system would allow individuals to form communities with similar individuals, living within a set of agreed-upon principles.
"This takes the popular notion of social unity, that everybody wants the same thing, and does the opposite, it assumes that people are different," Kraegle said.
In Kraegle's ideal society, conservative Christians could form their own community with their own value system and set of laws and a hippy community could do the same thing.
"I am not a utopian," Kraegle said emphatically, "I am not suggesting that this system would solve every problem. If people continue to exist as they always have, there will be conflicts."
Stolyarov, on the other hand, believes in a minimal government existing solely for protection.
He said many conservatives fear the absence of drug laws will lead to a moral decline. However, he believes that under a minimalist government people would still act in a moral way because of the incentives inherent in the system:
"[In a libertarian society] I could take drugs, but it would harm me physically, economically, and socially - these negative social and natural feedback mechanisms hinder a rational person from engaging in these kinds of activities."
He likens such a free market economy to Ebay. Buyers and sellers generally treat each other fairly because it is more lucrative to deal fairly than unfairly.
Kraegle said libertarianism is not amoral like some people think.
"I can name close to a dozen people [at Hillsdale] who are Bible-believing Christians and libertarians - many, in fact, would see their libertarian views as an extension of their faith," Kraegle said.
While the anarchist ideology may paint Kraegle as a radical, when it comes to participating in politics Kraegle said he is more of a pragmatist:
"I understand [anarcho-capitalism] is more of an academic and philosophical interest, I understand the concept may not be tangible, but that is not to say that I don't think it is not possible."
As of now, there have been no libertarian students found who advocate the complete dismantling of the U.S. government, evidence that Hillsdale's radicals prefer a revolution of ideas rather than guns.
"Right now, the majority of Americans rely on the government for many things - so it is not realistic to expect them to give that up," Kraegle said, "Libertarian ideas will not begin to take hold in America until people start to realize that we don't want the government controlling everything."
Unfortunately for those romantic notions of bandana-wearing, cigarette-chewing anarchists bouncing around in pick-up trucks, at least at Hillsdale, our libertarian extremists are rather docile and gracious.
For more information, visit Gennady Stolyarov's Web site at www.rationalargumentator.com
Viewing Comments 1 - 4 of 4
bradford
Brad Hubert
posted 3/13/08 @ 8:07 PM EST
Just thought it worth worth noting that 2008 is not the first time that Ron Paul and Hillsdale have met. In fact, Paul campaigned at Hillsdale College in 1988 when he was the Libertarian nominee for President. (Continued…)
Matt Schonert
posted 3/14/08 @ 9:55 AM EST
See the 1988 Winona for a photo of Ron Paul campaigning at Hillsdale.
Michael Wiebe
posted 4/30/08 @ 9:07 PM EST
Weak! Stolyarov is a minarchist?!?! I'm so disappointed. I read his brilliant articles on praxeology, so I guess I thought he would have at least progressed to anarchism. (Continued…)
Daniel Schilling
posted 5/10/08 @ 8:26 PM EST
Stolyarov is still attending Hillsdale? And people still care about what he thinks? I remember when he was a freshman I was astonished that any one could possibly be as ignorant as he was. (Continued…)
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