Sam’s isn’t the most reliable analyst on libertarian theory. After reporting that he considers himself in large part a libertarian, in the very next paragraph he shares his view of government:
“Why do we have laws in the first place? To prevent adults from behaving like dangerous children. All laws are coercive and take the following form: do this, and don’t do that, or else. Or else what? Or else men with guns will arrive at your door and take you away to prison. Yes, it would be wonderful if we did not need to be corralled and threatened in this way. And many uses of State power are both silly and harmful (the “war on drugs” being, perhaps, the ultimate instance). But the moment certain strictures are relaxed, people reliably go berserk. ”
Whether you agree or disagree with the quote, most of us would recognize this as the opposite of libertarianism.
Reading between the lines, I suspect Harris self-identifies as the “guns and dope” breed of small-L libertarian (possibly modulo guns). His stated motivations aren’t necessarily inconsistent with that label, although they are inconsistent with libertarian theory.
Which is not to say that he doesn’t have some badly confused views about that general ideological space. Describing Objectivism as “autism rebranded”, for example, is seriously unfair to both Objectivists and autistic folks.
“All laws are coercive and take the following form: do this, and don’t do that, or else. Or else what? Or else men with guns will arrive at your door and take you away to prison. Yes, it would be wonderful if we did not need to be corralled and threatened in this way. And many uses of State power are both silly and harmful (the “war on drugs” being, perhaps, the ultimate instance). But the moment certain strictures are relaxed, people reliably go berserk. ”
While the rest of the quote does make it pretty clear that Harris isn’t a libertarian, the first part—where in he acknowledges that laws ultimately derive their authority from men with guns say they do, and only from “the consent of the governed” (as in Lockean social contract theory) to the extent that “the will of the people” is capable of influencing the guys with guns—wouldn’t sound too out of place in a libertarian argument. Of course, most libertarians go on to add that this state of affairs is suboptimal, and could be improved upon, which Harris explicitly doesn’t believe. Still, he probably has more in common with libertarians than your average politically interested person does.
Sam’s isn’t the most reliable analyst on libertarian theory. After reporting that he considers himself in large part a libertarian, in the very next paragraph he shares his view of government:
“Why do we have laws in the first place? To prevent adults from behaving like dangerous children. All laws are coercive and take the following form: do this, and don’t do that, or else. Or else what? Or else men with guns will arrive at your door and take you away to prison. Yes, it would be wonderful if we did not need to be corralled and threatened in this way. And many uses of State power are both silly and harmful (the “war on drugs” being, perhaps, the ultimate instance). But the moment certain strictures are relaxed, people reliably go berserk. ”
Whether you agree or disagree with the quote, most of us would recognize this as the opposite of libertarianism.
http://www.samharris.org/blog/item/how-to-lose-readers-without-even-trying/
Reading between the lines, I suspect Harris self-identifies as the “guns and dope” breed of small-L libertarian (possibly modulo guns). His stated motivations aren’t necessarily inconsistent with that label, although they are inconsistent with libertarian theory.
Which is not to say that he doesn’t have some badly confused views about that general ideological space. Describing Objectivism as “autism rebranded”, for example, is seriously unfair to both Objectivists and autistic folks.
While the rest of the quote does make it pretty clear that Harris isn’t a libertarian, the first part—where in he acknowledges that laws ultimately derive their authority from men with guns say they do, and only from “the consent of the governed” (as in Lockean social contract theory) to the extent that “the will of the people” is capable of influencing the guys with guns—wouldn’t sound too out of place in a libertarian argument. Of course, most libertarians go on to add that this state of affairs is suboptimal, and could be improved upon, which Harris explicitly doesn’t believe. Still, he probably has more in common with libertarians than your average politically interested person does.