Why a Moral Libertarian must not be Utopian or Revolutionary
Some people have asked me: is moral libertarianism a utopian philosophy? After all, we don’t have anything remotely like equal moral agency yet, and we aren’t likely to get there in the next decade. My answer would be that an ideal that we can work gradually towards is, by definition, not just a utopian dream. It is an ideal that will take generations to work towards, but we are making good progress. Looking back a century ago, for example, would reveal that people have a lot more equal moral agency today compared to back then. As long as we keep the ideal alive and let it guide our reformist path forward, we will gradually get there.
Moral libertarianism is, in fact, incompatible with utopianism of any kind. Why? Someone’s utopia must necessarily be different from another’s. Under the principle of Equal Moral Agency (EMA), nobody will be allowed to implement their own version of utopia. Instead, everyone will have to settle for compromises when it comes to collective issues. Thinking about it, allowing anyone to implement their own version of utopia will necessarily be oppressive to those who disagree. Therefore, moral libertarianism removes this possibility for a good reason.
Which brings me onto my next point: moral libertarianism is necessarily evolutionary and reformist. A revolutionary program can never be compatible with the principle of Equal Moral Agency, when you think about it. Revolutionary action requires collective action, and such collectivism necessarily requires the extensive obedience of individual wills to the collective will. Where the individual will is in the minority and hence is opposed to the collective will, the individual will lose moral agency, which is instead given over to those representing the collective will, i.e. the majority. Moreover, revolutions generally require strong leadership, and in that case the leaders have a lot more moral agency than anyone else. History has taught us that once people have too much moral agency over others, it will be impossible to make them relinquish it without yet another revolution, which may create the same problems over again.
Revolutionary socialists in particular have aimed to challenge moral libertarianism by pointing out the lack of actual equal moral agency where there remains gross economic inequality. And in this, I do not argue that they are wrong, at least in the situation of our current reality. As previously mentioned, equality of moral agency is an ideal to work gradually towards, rather than to demand overnight. In my opinion, we have two options going forward to deal with this problem: firstly, to reduce and eventually eliminate actual poverty, and secondly, to reduce and eventually eliminate the extra influence that ‘money can buy’. Both of these areas are important focuses of both political and socio-cultural reform. Moral libertarians prefer this gradualist approach because it is the only one that will bring us the results we want in the longer term. A revolutionary approach can never bring equal moral agency in the end, because it has to set up situations of unequal moral agency as a means to bring about revolutionary change. On the other hand, reformists work things through the liberal democratic system, and therefore are already building a situation of equal moral agency bit by bit with each debate and each reform. The debate of individuals in the free market of ideas is the inherently liberal way to progress, after all.
Furthermore, revolutionary socialists generally advocate for the abolishment of all private property and the collectivization of everything as part of their revolution. As I have said elsewhere before, a society where everything is collectivized allows no individual will, because the collective will is needed to approve of almost any action. It must necessarily follow that there will be a tyranny of the majority, where those in the majority will have all the moral agency, and those in the minority will have next to none.
The exact reformist path towards a state of equal moral agency is not yet clear. However, I believe that if we uphold this principle in every single issue and reform we consider, we will get there gradually. After all, history tells us that letting an ideal inspire gradually unfolding reform, as seen in the liberal evolution of British society for example, is a much better way than setting up a grand narrative of history and forcing that narrative onto reality, as is the case in many (failed) revolutionary movements.
On the other hand, I believe we should always be on guard for any attempts to roll back the equality of moral agency that we have already achieved. Therefore, any attempt to deliberately introduce inequality of moral agency, whether from the left or the right, should be seen as inherently against morality and therefore strongly resisted. This includes both right-wing attempts to introduce race-based nationalism and left-wing attempts to introduce safe speech and progressive stacks as commonly accepted conventions.
The Moral Libertarian Horizon book series examines the moral libertarian ideal in depth, and examines its application over a range of topics such as free speech, freedom of conscience, the free market of ideas, the question of private property, and social justice. Moral libertarian cases against social engineering, victim mentality, identity politics and political correctness are also presented.
You can read or download your free copy of the book at The Open Library:
