Maybe I’m Not
Chris Lempa
Black Oak Presents
Summer 2007

When I discuss politics or current events with friends I am often told that I do not sound liberal or progressive. Comments like that should be taken with a grain of salt, since the two terms are relatively meaningless.
   
After all, what is the difference between a liberal Republican and a conservative Democrat? How about between a progressive Republican and a progressive Democrat? Better yet, who can really define what any of those terms mean? Thomas Jefferson was considered a liberal when he was writing groundbreaking documents. Yet today he would be considered a radical conservative because he believed in a small government. This all changed when he was elected to office, but that is not the topic of this essay. Frederic Bastiat, Ludwig von Mises, and Ron Paul are classical liberals. By today's standards, however, they are conservative.
   
As if this were not confusing enough, we could add in agorists, anarchists, anarcho-capitalists, anarcho-primitivists, anarcho-syndicalists, free market capitalists, free marketeers, geoists, geo-libertarians, greens, left-libertarians, libertarians, market-anarchists, market-socialist, paleo-conservatives, paleo-progressives, primitivists, and many, many more.
   
What does it all mean? Better yet, why does it matter?
   
If one were to tell me that they want to be free, I would say that's great. I would not, however, have any idea what that person meant. One person's free society is another person's hell.
So it is important to be more specific. Because of this, people often rely on political labels. While labeling is meant to unite those that agree, it more often tends to divide people before they have a chance to share opinions, ideas, and strategies.
   
One of my favorite pastimes is the potluck dinner. Potlucks provide entertainment, food, and conversation. A suggestion was made to me to provide themes for my potlucks. I supported this idea and suggested that some friends lay the groundwork. Like so many other good ideas, this went to the wayside.
   
Building on the idea, a friend and I were inspired to organize the Coles County Libertarian Supper Club. Every other week we met to discuss issues relevant to Coles County from an anti-authoritarian standpoint. The ideological inspirations were Murray Rothbard and Murray Bookchin's Left-Right Anarchist Supper Club.
   
As author L. Neil Smith wrote, “a libertarian is a person who believes that no one has the right, under any circumstances, to initiate force against another human being, or to advocate or delegate its initiation.”
   
I was expecting much excitement about this new group since many people had talked about similar ideas. Much to my dismay, the group was met with some hostility. I suspect this was due to the group's name. “Libertarians are Republicans that smoke pot,” was a common response to invitations. Others told me that they were opposed to the notion of libertarianism since they were ideological leftists.

Consequently, a group founded around the idea of free thought was stifled because of a label.  This trend has unfortunately destroyed much more than a supper club in Illinois. Even labels that seem more specific have differences.
   
In a recent talk at the University of Illinois in Champaign-Urbana, John Zerzan, renowned primitivist philosopher, writer, and speaker, mentioned that there were plenty of differences in his thought and primitivist Derrick Jensen's thought. Fortunately these two do not allow their differences to stand between them.
   
Too many people are concerned with the labels use to describe their ideology or scene. This must be overcome. If more energy were focused on action than talk we would live in a much, much better society.
   
Stop thinking about progressives and libertarians. Go out and start a supper club.

Chris Lempa is a streetwise professor in search of the perfect cup of coffee
and the perfect glass of water. He is a guest editor at www.Strike-the-root.com.
  You may e-mail him at 8lempa8@gmail.com.

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