PUBLIC UPROAR
a journal for eclectic policy

CIVIC LIBERTARIANISM:
freedom in the social setting

It is important to define civic libertarianism as the belief that social relations are sacrosanct. Government must not interfere in this area of life, for good or bad. Here, non-economic decisions by individuals are made, and acts that do not inflict damage to person or property are carried out. This is a distinction between private and public life, where government must not intrude on the private but has full reign over the public. Involvement in public life is government’s purpose and right. Specific areas where civic libertarianism can be practiced are such things as: the removal of “victimless crimes” from the legal codes, the separation between church and state in moral ethics, and the voluntary choice of personal conduct with organized religious tenets as possibilities only. Also, there can be a transition from restrictive to expansive legal language and the incorporation of social legal attitudes of foreign democracies as a model. The purpose of civic libertarianism would be the restoration of common sense in social conduct, and community action that is non-combative to universal standards. There would also be a trust in individual will within context of social structures, as well as an openness to private sector solutions to problems. Examples of civic libertarianism are the repeal of statutory rape laws and sodomy laws among others, a universal test of obscenity to determine what is legally obscene, and the creation of an “experimental” status as transition between legal and illegal. Other examples are the acknowledgement of belief as non-provable by perception or logic, and a reinstitution of “equal time” in public speech rather than commercial censorship. Civic libertarianism does not believe that all government is incapable, but that in community and social interaction government regulation is out of place and does more harm than good.     

STEUBEN COUNTY MANIFESTO:   
for a political party

Any political party that hopes to work, first on a county level and then grow as an independent grassroots operation, must have clear goals. These goals are a candidate for every office race, an open platform-in-progress, clear communication between city committees and overall organization, and publication and distribution of a platform early in elections. A clear communication between city committees and overall organization would encompass city committees taking individual initiative in city elections, and the county committee collecting and sharing ideas and information among the various cities. Any strategy employed by a political party to achieve these goals must be: making full use of state’s, such as New York’s, “fusion” laws and an open-door policy for third party ideas. Also, there must be a strategy of appealing to disenfranchised voters such as the young, minimum wage workers, and disenchanted voters, as well as establishing public feedback and input, and promoting achievements of individual office holders as examples. The development of a platform must be an organic process, since it must conform to the patterns of human behavior and growth set against technological growth. Therefore, variability and adaptability are important in constructing what a political party believes in and what it can do for constituents. 

In its daily operation, any party for the sake of focus must uphold priorities. This links a party’s goals with its ideals and sense of purpose. These would include going beyond simple tax-and-spend solutions, civic libertarianism, a revival of the social-credit movement, and a common sense attitude and non-ideology. Another major priority would be a cooperative economic policy as stated by the Rochdale Principles of cooperation: open and voluntary membership, democratic control, net surplus belongs to user-owners, education of cooperative economics, and cooperation among cooperatives. This would apply to businesses and workplaces in order to expand democracy there. A helpful reference that would come into use would be “17 Steps to Community” formulated by Wendell Berry, which would help in regards to issues for towns and small areas. Issue statements must be able to escape strict ideological lines, which mute any worthwhile projects or discussion. Concepts not even considered by existing parties must be flushed out and tested by a new platform-in-progress, which attracts the undecided and relatively bored voter.   

In formulating specific planks in a platform, an articulation of ideals, there should be a complex of different themes. Examples are: tradition no longer applying to reality and society where tradition is as something to disregard, an end of the era of politics of the personal or personal as political, and the internal economy as ecosystem. More themes would include: an active promotion of culture as a patron, multiple opinions insuring effective ideas, using real resources and real labor pool for infrastructure, and presenting a clear future for everyone. Also, other concrete themes should be: referendums and initiatives as new political tradition, all institutions being interconnected and socially responsible, using all our abilities beyond capitalist needs and demands, and towns having lifelines to the state and nation to prevent being ignored or becoming stagnant. These more abstract concepts unify outlooks on policy and give a sense of purpose to the formation of a political party. Any work done in this field must be believed in with all of one’s being. For it is by political groupings that the average citizen takes the next step forward from the first step as a casual voter. In order to gain control of how a nation functions, one must first vote and then create the political structure by which the major debates travel through. That is empowerment on more than one level. And it is a strong beginning.               

PROSECUTING THE POLITE SOCIETY  

If one were to find a general source of hegemony that is still strong in terms of social issues, that would be defined as the polite society. Despite political and economic changes in dogma or structures the polite society in this country has remained as the standard of conformity and order. It is very necessary at this time to present an indictment of the polite society. The requirements of polite society have been to do what is “proper” in terms of behavior, or to do what is “right”. These terms are defined as what fulfills the overall standard of respectability and pleasantness for any social scene to conduct itself. For economic and cultural studies this allows for commodification of life in lesser forms, but in terms of the sanity of social behavior one must concentrate on the long-term negativity of the polite society only. The weapon of the polite society is silence, and a denial of truth that would escape ideology and its generalizations. For the polite society creates the environment for ideology to thrive and play its stifling games of a static world-view and paradigm. This is a present-day phenomenon and is a vestige of the modern age, with its twin movements of universalization and compartmentalization. But this remnant exists in social and cultural terms to render the average consumer of culture unable to deal with others, and unable to deal with oneself. We, as consumers of culture and also of life, are treated to a world made mundane and bland where everything is smooth-edged and not controversial. The differentiation of human perspectives in this spectacle known as reality calls for a relative aspect to how our world conducts itself and how we are engaged in it. In other words, it is our nature to be in some sort of differentiation in order to exists as humans. The polite society is therefore a danger to the human condition of living in a world of stimulus that is forever changing how we view that world. The polite society is an atavistic project whereby people in their culture are infantilized and forced to be the epitome of triviality with a forced behavior by an invisible peer pressure. At a first reaction, cultural critics cite the raw and controversial elements that seem to produce a negative imagery. This is a delusion in order to seal up the exceptions to the rules of the polite society and its supporting sense of fashion. Rather, it is the clean-cut and effervescent agents within entertainment especially which do more injury to the existential world-view and values of our culture. Such elements of entertainment deemed most suitable and “wholesome”, such as pop music “boy bands” and such, deny the imaginative spirit of mankind that arises naturally within revolution or chaos. It is obvious that these parts of popular culture exist on a surface level without any creative bedrock. But since creativity teaches one how to conduct one’s life, this pedestrian attitude enforced by the invisible hand of polite society retards the chaotic spirit in the long-term. More than one hundred years ago, Nietzsche warned of those who practice “bad conscience” as being those who would enslave the will to power by reducing it to the low level of the “herd”. The polite society is a textbook example of “bad conscience”, and we are made to believe it is the best and safest route to be fashionable.