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 THE LIBERTARIAN ENTERPRISE Number 595, November 14, 2010 "The secession of the individual from the state"
Attribute to The Libertarian Enterprise A while back I was reading several articles courtesy of Rex May regarding multiculturalism. Mr. May provided a link to ex-army.blogspot.com where this issue was being discussed. Others have brought this up before, especially regarding how Muslims demand respect for their rights in non-Muslim societies on grounds of multiculturalism but are somewhat less willing to practice respect for non-Muslim cultural values when they have enough power to force their will on others. After much consideration i have concluded that in and of itself multiculturalism is not necessarily a good thing as long as we have nation states. This is because of the word nation. Among other things it means a group of people with a common ethnicity and cultural background. It can also mean a group of people with sufficient common interests to create a nation state. The United States of America is such a nation, at least nominally. A third definition is a group of people with disparate interests being held together by force by an imperial ruler. Most libertarians, both those who have given up on the state and those who view the state as a potential tool of liberty, view America as a a nation based on a love of liberty. We have a common culture derived from 17th and 18th Century Rationalist thought as written up by John Locke, Thomas Paine, Adam Smith, Thomas Jefferson, George Mason,and a bunch of other "dead white guys." to the degree we practice multiculturalism it is a reflection of the love of liberty that this common culture demands. There is room for a great deal of cultural diversity within a free society. However there is still a common culture of liberty. What happens when a value on multiculturalism replaces a value on liberty? When the ideas of "dead white guys" who valued liberty have no higher standing than ones that requires membership in a caste and staying in one's place, or that it is appropriate to force others to join one's faith by sword and flame or subjects them to enslavement or at least second class citizenship if they do not submit to the true God? America's common national culture is based on a love of liberty and leaves room for a respect for people practicing a wide variety of customs and cultural practices. However, if a value on multiculturalism replaces a value on liberty in importance it is possible that America will tear itself apart just enough to allow a tyrant to rise to power to put things back together. When people who share different cultures are bound into one nation by the power of the emperor this is not freedom. It is multicultural slavery. I do not consider this culturally acceptable.
TLE AFFILIATE
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