Reason Magazine: Ken Cavanaugh- Interviewing Author David Brin: 'Libertarians, Transparency & Uplifting'

Source:Reason Magazine- Author David Brin talking to Reason Magazine.

"The issue should not be government. It should not be unlimited and unalloyed idolatry of personal property, which is the path that the libertarian movement has gone down," says David Brin, a science fiction writer and self-identified "heretical libertarian."

Brin sat down with Reason.tv's Tim Cavanaugh to discuss his recent critiques of the libertarian movement, which he believes is being pushed in the wrong direction by dogmatic followers of Ayn Rand and Murray Rothbard.

"Libertarians need to be reminded that, across 6,000 years, the greatest enemy of free enterprise, of market enterprise, innovation, creative competition... have always been oligarch," says Brin.

Brin also discussed the themes of his prescient book, The Transparent Society, which, among other things, predicted a terrorist attack on the World Trade Center before it happened. The interview wraps up with a discussion of the ethics of Brin's Uplift series, which imagines a future in which humans have enhanced the minds and bodies of dolphins and made them equal citizens of society.

About 10 minutes. Interview by Tim Cavanaugh. Shot by Zach Weissmueller, Paul Detrick, and Sharif Matar. Edited by Weissmueller." 

From Reason Magazine

Author David Brin is dead right about how he critiques the current libertarian movement. That I've described as not pro-limited government, which is what Liberals and Conservatives believe in. 

The way you hear Libertarians talk today, like Peter Schiff and Judge Andrew Napolitano talk, they don't even now sound pro-small government but anti-government. They seem to take the approach that government is incompetent, period, and doesn't do anything right. Which is why I'm a Liberal and not a Libertarian. 

I believe when you limit government especially the Federal Government to doing only what it should and what it has the constitutional authority to do, you produce good government, thats not only cost-effective but does a good job. The way you hear Libertarians talking today, you would think good government is an Oxymoron. And thats why I'm not a Libertarian, because Libertarians today sound anarchist. Or perhaps just a step away from being anarchists.

Liberals (or Classical Liberals, if you prefer) want to limit government to what it only should be doing, again based on its constitutional authority. And what it's effective at and can do in a cost-effective way. And have an economic system, where everyone has a quality opportunity to be successful in life, which is what equality of opportunity is about. And what the people do with these opportunities, is up to them and that they should be rewarded for what they produce for society. Not be rewarded for what they are lacking in order to be self-sufficient in life. 

Whereas so-called Progressives today ( Socialists in reality ) have more of a collectivist communitarian view of government and the economy. That we are one nation, one family, one community and in this environment, no one should have a lot more than anyone, even if they've worked and earned it. That we need to heavily tax this excess wealth, to take care of the people who can't take care of themselves.

Libertarians today seem to take the view that government has created all of the problems. And has none of the solutions to fix these problems. And that it shouldn't even be involved in areas like law enforcement and corrections. Because it's so incompetent and that these things should be privatized. I'm waiting to hear a Libertarian come out in favor of privatizing the military, maybe thats next. And why even though they are growing, are yet to be seen as a mainstream movement. But with Gary Johnson getting the Libertarian nomination for President, he could bring Liberals into the LP and maybe the movement will change.