The Humble Libertarian original

By: Eric Sharp Delegates and convention goers who were forced to wait for buses to be rerouted expressed surprise that the Occupy presence has been stronger at the DNC than at the Republican convention in Tampa last week. "I didn't see them at the Republican convention," said Wandra Ashley-Williams, vice president of the Maryland State Conference NAACP. "That's not good." Bad news for party elites. Perhaps Occupy knew that Ron Paul's people were already going to bring the fight to the RNC. Anyway what this means for the DNC is that they have a populous movement angry not just at Republicans but mostly at the Democrats for selling out. Compare what Reason.tv reported people were saying about Corporate contributions and the bailouts inside and outside of the Democratic National Convention. Convention goers saw no problem with the bailouts, while Occupy protestors compared the bailouts to theft. Eric Sharp , Regular Columnist, T H L Ar...

Time Magazine has selected “The Protester” as its Person of the Year for 2011 because they are “redefining people power” throughout the world, citing the protests of the Arab Spring and the Occupy Wall Street protests in the United States as examples. Time writes: “It’s remarkable how much the protest vanguards share. Everywhere they are disproportionately young, middle class and educated. Almost all the protests this year began as independent affairs, without much encouragement from or endorsement by existing political parties or opposition bigwigs. All over the world, the protesters of 2011 share a belief that their countries’ political systems and economies have grown dysfunctional and corrupt — sham democracies rigged to favor the rich and powerful and prevent significant change. They are fervent small-d democrats. Two decades after the final failure and abandonment of communism, they believe they’re experiencing the failure of hell-bent megascaled crony hypercapitalism and pine...

There has been mixed responses to Occupy Wall Street by libertarians. Some see the movement as a positive, while others see them as little more than lazy hipsters. But libertarians must be sensitive to why people feel the way they do about issues. The occupiers point out a legitimate concern that "the 1%" control vastly more power and wealth than "the 99%", and corporations have accumulated more power and privilege than is healthy for an open society. Some other concerns and demands are absurd, but the heart of the matter is on track. The question is why has this happened? While many on the left are quick to blame a nebulous thing called "greed", or lack of regulation, the matter is more complicated than that. This calls for a Lord of the Rings metaphor. Let's say that Sauron, the big cheese bad guy of Lord of the Rings, is the corporate hegemony. The 1%. Most people in Middle Earth agree that this is a problem, but there are a few differ...