Monday, December 11, 2017

Liberation is the Ultimate Form of Escape

Yes, libertarianism is escapist. But, to paraphrase Tolkien, it is escapist in the proper sense of the term: it is the philosophy of a sane person trying to escape from a lunatic asylum. Liberation is, indeed, the ultimate form of escape, and, as such, it is also the ultimate form of defeating oppression without using the oppressor's own weapons. Every free person is, in a crucial sense, a successful escapee, and it's the kind of success that cannot be celebrated enough: libertarianism succeeds not when the jailers are defeated, but when the jail is empty.