More on Desi Libertarianism

Abi has linked to my post on the Jago party, and has given his comments on it. Judging by the "hoax" tag he gave the article, I think he doesn't think too greatly of them. Go there and read the comments too -- he gets some pretty smart readers [not to say that you aren't :)].

Also, thanks to all those who posted on my last post on this.

Some answers from my side to the points you raised:
Regarding _association_ : I would _not_ want to be associated with people who are not well-thought out. And _joining_ a party does not mean I get to drive their agenda, which takes a lot more time than I currently have [I have other places whose agenda I can help guide :)]

Regarding Death Sentence for Crimes: My stance on the death sentence has been mellowed of late, esp given the large number of death-row prisoners who have been found not guilty by DNA evidence recently in the USA. So, until we get a foolproof way of determining if someone indeed did a heinous crime [time machine anyone?] I'd let the judges decide which cases are the "rarest of the rare" where it is needed. The stance of the party on that topic is definitely näive in my opinion.

Regarding multi-party: In my opinion, a multi-party system is the ONLY one where each voter has the possibility of finding _exactly_ what he stands for. A 2-party system simply cannot handle this, since people are not one-dimensional. E.g., in America, who do I vote for if I hate abortion but support gay marriage? In a multi-party system, there are no limitations for a party to be created to support exactly that mix of stances. Of course, we are assuming that the people running these parties actually _believe_ in what they stand for, as opposed to changing stances according to the wind -- but that can happen in any-party system.

Regarding Cautious Aggression: Well put Anshul. my sentiments exactly.

Regarding "pure" libertarianism: Reminds me of the post on no libertarians in a financial crisis. In my opinion, libertarianism _is_ a "pure" philosophie, in that it is based on a very strong belief on let-me-alone. Anyone claiming to be a "soft" libertarian is not one, IMO.

Regarding reducing birth rate by providing education and career opportunities to women: Interesting idea, and I hope it is true, but in the absence of a citation, I call BS.

So, what did I decide regarding Jago party? I won't join it officially right now, but will keep a close eye on the developments. Lets see what happens in the near future.