Its still me

It appears that I have "spooked the horses" with my recent change in outlook. If you peruse the comments of that post, you'll see some support but also a lot of confusion. So, in an effort to preempt Idealistic Pragmatist's post on me for leaving the NDP, let me say this:

Guys, its still me.

I still believe in human rights. A person should be allowed to do anything so long as then do not harm or infringe on the rights of another person. Indeed, this was probably one area where I have always been an open libertarian - albeit a civil libertarian.

I still believe in economic justice. I believe people should be able to live comfortable, earn a decent living and enjoy the comforts of our society without being exploited, enslaved and being made dependent on things they cannot control. This was one of the principles that led me to join the NDP in the first place.

I still believe in human equality, that no person should be judged or discriminated against based on who they are, where they are from or any other accident of birth. Same as when I was in the NDP.

I believe that people should be free to live their lives as they choose. Again, no different than before.

I have always believed that the market can work under the right circumstances. Giant corporate oligopolies, cartelized products and government granted monopolies all conspire to make sure that the markets aren't in fact "free" and do not work and are not the right circumstances. I have always and will continue to rail against the Conservative Nanny State, and consider places like the American Enterprise Institute and the CATO Institute to be vulgar libertarians - apologists for corporatism, not supporters of free markets. I am in favour of "fair trade" not the so-called "free" trade. Again, no different than before.

I have only changed in the way in which I think these principles and goals can be reached. I have given up on the state as an agent of this. I have always thought modern corporations could not do it. I am in favour of a highly decentralized model of local governance, as suggested by Jane Jacobs. I am merely looking at this in a different way.

In short, same goals and principles, different path to implementation.

Anarchism means, quite literally, "without rulers". I think we can do better ourselves, rather than depending on politicians and bureaucrats with other agendas. Perhaps the state can do some good, but in the end, I have come to accept that it is part of the problem, not the solution.

But your mileage may vary.

Its still me. I have probably surprised, disappointed and even angered some of you. But it is still me.

I will still bash the Liberals and Conservatives when they need it. I will still agree with whomever makes good points. I still like the NDP. I will still give my opinion on how things are working in government, even though I would eventually like it to disappear.

In short, its still me.