Purist Vs. Pragmatist Doctrine, according to Mindwars by Ian McFadyen

by Tim Crowley

Posted March 06, 2007

1. When doctrines are transmitted verbally, those with simple easy to remember structures are more likely to be transmitted than complicated ones and will be transmitted with fewer errors.

The Purist Doctrine is easier to remember than the Pragmatist one because it is derived from one principle. But is this a case of false economy?

What sources would Pragmatist Doctrine draw from, in addition to the Noninitiation of Force?

Categorical Imperative—what if everyone did it?
Biblical “Love one's neighbor as oneself”
Neal Boortz-type beliefs
Buddhism
U.S. Constitution
Magna Carta
Various LRC essays
Common Sense and common sense?
Various Enlightenment authors such as John Locke's Treatises of Government.
Anti-Federalists?

Also, could Locke, Jefferson etc be accepted into the Purist Caucus of the LP?

2. People whose World Pictures (their personal worldview) are based on their own experience will be more inclined to believe doctrines that also seem to be derived from personal experiences.

Purist Doctrine is derived from one abstract principle. Even though the utility of nonintervention is easily seen in many circumstances, it is explained in an overly rationalistic way. Do Purists have an irrational belief in the powers of logic because many of them are computer programmers who are paid to work with logic for hours on end? After reading "Radicals for Capitalism" an excellent book on the history of the Libertarian Movement, it can be shown that many of the movement's originators had many eccentricities. So they developed an “eccentricity-friendly” movement and later a party.

Pragmatist Doctrine is the practical application of purist principles in a modern, heterogeneous society. Personal experience shows many pragmatist libertarians that the U.S electorate may not understand the rationale for privatizing all roads, for example, but they might be easily sold on eliminating the fares on the Turnpike. The expanded platform format with the Transitions and Benefits sections would demonstrate the utility of libertarian ideas from the standpoint of personal experience more than the platform of several years ago.

3. Ideas that are expressed in written form can contain a far greater amount of information than to those expressed orally.

The 2005 Purist platform was a laundry list of information with over 60 individual planks.

Most of the Pragmatist platform planks under consideration are like the proverbial women's miniskirt—Short enough to be interesting, but long enough to cover the subject.

4. Ideas that are expressed in written form change less than those expressed orally.

The Purist doctrine is derived from one principle, and has not changed in 35 years. Some say that this is an asset, others a liability. Pragmatist doctrine must be developed in such a way that it is firmly rooted in libertarian principles but other considerations may supercede these principles such as the Constitution, US History, preferences of the electorate, the Libertarian "zone of believeability" and so on.

In a sense, changes in the Platform and Pledge are trailing indicators, not leading indicators. Fundamental changes have already occurred in the LP since the days of Dr. Murray Rothbard hobnobbing with Libertarians, Black Nationalists, Pat Buchanan and so on. The 21st Century LP is fundamentally different from the 70's version.

5. Ideas that are expressed in written form outlast nonwritten ideas and can be revived even after long periods of inactivity.

They'll be back. So the best of all possible worlds would be a robust, inclusive LP with a strong Purist caucus that will keep the Pragmatists from throwing the baby out with the bath water.

6. A written text possesses considerable authority even if its meaning is not fully decipherable.

Purists have “Atlas Shrugged” and “The Fountainhead.” The Pragmatists can't match that in terms of literary virtuosity, But perhaps those books were more tools of diagnosis and less tools of treatment?

Pragmatists are building up an adequate body of knowledge and theory with the LRC. Besides Pragmatist Doctrine is an outgrowth of Purist ideals, not a repudiation of them. Perhaps the Pledge would be better viewed as a lighthouse instead of a road map. If a ship steams directly toward a lighthouse, it will crash upon the rocks. But if the ship's captain wisely uses the lighthouse coordinates (100,100) then it can navigate the rocky shoals of actual politics. The net result will be a freer society, at the expense of a really great validation tool, however.

7. Doctrines that demonstrate internal consistency are more likely to be accepted as true.

Purist doctrine is internally consistent although it may not be adequate to address all the troubles of the world. Also, Objectivists (Objectionists?) take Purism one step further than the Purists do. They reject political parties. One could argue that from an Objectivist perspective, Purists are already sliding down the slippery slope.

Still, Pragmatists have to demonstrate that through internal controls, a sensible revision of the platform etc, that the LP will not slip too far from its present intellectual moorings. Purist Doctrines will not disappear, they will still exist in dozens of think tanks and other appropriate places. But perhaps purity pledges and quizzes are not the most appropriate tool for a political party?

8. Ideas that exist in a written form can become part of the External Memory and have an ongoing influence of people's World Pictures.

Early Libertarians were eccentric in many cases. They fostered a culture that encourages eccentricities, attracting more eccentrics in the process. So the current party has an institutional memory put in place by “eccentric” people. Also the Nolan Quiz is wielded in much the same way that Mensa wields the SAT.

Marxism is great for examining the world from the perspective of class struggle. But if all you have is a hammer, the world becomes a nail.

9. The more energy an organization has at its disposal the more effective the methods of transimission it can access.

The Purist Doctrine has brought us a party which has about $5 million worth of resources a year at the state and national levels. A good-sized restaurant or drugstore does that much business a year. So Purism has the unintended consequence of giving us an organization the size of a Walgreen's or an Olive Garden to use to fight evil. Thanks a lot. The trade off is between large, unlikely reforms and more modest though more likely ones.

10. The tenets of a self-replicating doctrine must first and foremost include instructions for their own survival.

Purist Doctrine could actually become a suicide pact, if a libertarian nation were confronted with a cunning and persistent adversary who would rather steal our stuff than get their own. Can the Purist Doctrine survive Islamo-Fascism?

There is no guarantee that Pragmatism will grow the LP or help the country more than Purism has, but 35 years and 0.5% of the popular vote gives you a handy benchmark.

11. The more specific and comprehensive the instructions are, the better chances of survival.

Purist Doctrine is very specific, which means that it will always be with us. That is a good thing, but my argument is that it is not as comprehensive as Purists think it is. Pragmatists would temper its application so that it appeals to Innovators, Early Adopters and eventually the Early Majority of voters. Pragmatist Doctrine, although not as specific as Purist Doctrine, will be specific and comprehensive enough for governance, and more specific and comprehensive than Green, Democratic or Republican Doctrine.

12. Successful doctrines include instructions for preserving their own code by means of protective structures. These structures will be of both a physical and behaviorual nature.

The Platform Debate and the 7/8th vote necessary for removing the Pledge are examples of this. Purist Doctrine will always have its adherents, but in my view, it is like training wheels on a bike. You won't fall over but you won't go fast or impress others either. I have already discussed how Pragmatists have been run out of the party so that Purists can enjoy their hothouse flower environment.

Pragmatists will just have to beat the Purists at their own game. Remember the “Revenge of The Nerds” movies? The entire plot revolved around the nerds being put down by the jocks, but using their inimical nerdlike skills to eventually beat them at their own game. It is also instructive to note that it the Nerds were still fighting brush fire wars vs. the jocks well into the third movie. The take away point is that we can follow much the same game plan, understand the rules, and win at the burping contest and the limp wristed javelin throw.

Go Team!!

13. Doctrines motivate people by appearing to satisfy their emotional and motivational needs.

Purist Doctrine is logically consistent. But look at it from a psychological perspective. What kinds of people need such a doctrine? How are innovators different from early adopters in other areas of marketing? We have to move beyond a validation tool to become more of a major player in US politics after 35 years. Do we give the Purists another 35 years? What kinds of emotional and psychological needs did, say, a Rothbard need?

Pragmatists have emotional and motivational needs too. Pragmatists need real accomplishments in the real world. How can the LP appeal to the emotional and motivational needs of Purists (innovators), Pragmatists (early adopters) and also the more libertarian half of the electorate (the early majority)?

14. The emotional or motivational need served by the doctrine can be real or simply perceived.

Many people choose careers in computer programming, math or engineering because they prefer subjects with clear cut, unambiguous answers. The Noninitiation of Force sets up this same dynamic. Sure, the NIF often points toward sensible solutions to many problems. It is a good general rule, but not a great infallible one. IMO much harm can be caused by trying to over-apply this idea.

Castles in the air look pretty, but you can't live there.

15. Human beings can be programmed to believe and do anything.

Yep.

16. Doctrines can increase the energy available for their survival and proliferation by directing the maximum amount of human energy towards wealth creation.

Purists have favored survival of their principles in pristine form over proliferation to the average voter. But proliferation has a greater chance of saving this country. It all comes down to a choice of Political Party vs. Philosopy Club.

This may have been useful in the dark days of the beginning of the Libertarian Movement, but it is now the 21st Century. The LP should now adapt these ideas so that the general public can accept them, while there will still be many think tanks, web sites, etc that will keep purist Libertarianism alive and well.

In today's world it really isn't necessary or desirable to require that all aspects of the Libertarian Movement be purist in nature. The LP should become more inclusive, secure in the knowledge that Purist Libertarianism is kept intact and alive by hundreds of other Libertarian movement organizations. There are twice as many Libertarian movement organizations today as there were in the 70's. So there should be a better division of labor. The LP is better suited to be more inclusive while the myriad of purist groups can more than adequately “keep the flame burning.”

17. Doctrines can enhance their strategic effectiveness by diverting the reproductive and nurturing energies of human beings into the strategic development and propagation of the doctrine.

Insert link to the donation page here ;-)

18. Successful doctrines structure the individual's World Picture so as to make competing doctrines seem unbelieveable.

Purists rely on slippery slope arguments to keep the Pragmatists at bay. Most Pragmatists have underestimated their strength within the party until the 2006 platform reforms. If you seldom hear voices of dissent, your ideas will eventually drift to become more and more extreme. Eventually, they will become totally alien to the everyday voters.

If this were a Philosophical Dinner Club, then there would be no problem. But this is a political party which necessarily must interact with other parties on a larger stage. We have more libertarian supper clubs and web sites than ever before, so it is not a necessity to require the LP to take an exclusively purist line anymore.

The real world is not as clear cut as the world of imaginary Ayn Rand Characters.

As an aside, I bet that Al Quaeda would actually like Rand's 'The Fountainhead' since Roarke blew up the building that he designed. Too bad Rand didn't spell out what kinds of explosives Roarke used or where he placed the charges. Maybe we should send copies of The Fountainhead to Al Quaeda terrorists as a friendly gesture?

19. Doctrines can hinder the transmission of other competing doctrines by destroying the brains that house them.

Well, Purists won't kill you. But they will use every netiquette rule in the book to their advantage. If you disagree with Purists, they will claim that you aren't an authentic libertarian. If you suggest anything that is not in Purist Libertarian Doctrine, then you are automatically disqualified. This is a Catch-22.

Try getting a purist to include a link to reformthelp.org on any libertarian web site and see how irrational they get. This would be a service to an underrepresented segment of the Libertarian Community.

20. Doctrines can hinder the transmission of other doctrines by destroying any records of them in the External Memory.

It is the mark of a mature mind to hold two contradictory beliefs in mind simultaneously.

21. If the propagation of a doctrine is assisted by the death of the human host then the host will be killed.

Purists won't go that far. But they don't want an open debate. The neat trick is that any 'illogical' argument is considered invalid. Also the “Catch-22” is in effect. If you stray from the Pledge, then you are automatically no longer a libertarian. So the Pledge is used to exclude people to preserve the homogeneous atmosphere of a supper club.

22. Doctrines can spread through a population by exploiting the structures and tenets of existing doctrines.

Purists used the structures of Objectivism and Constitutionalism to get started. The NIF was their crowning jewel. But Pragmatism can avail itself of these same structures, plus others such as the flat tax, fair tax, NRA and so on.

The LP uses the Constitution as a framework to hang its ideas. Also there are parallels between Jesus and Christianity and the LP's doctrines. This would be even easier with a more inclusive platform. Books by Austrian and Chicago Ecomomists as well as novels by Rand, Heinlein, etc have help spread the tenets of 'free minds and free markets."

23. Doctrines can protect and preserve their code by placing it under the care of specially selected and indoctrinated individuals.

Purist doctrine, IMO, has inadvertently helped form a libertarian party culture that is both inwardly-focused and abstractly-focused. This is not optimal for a political party.

In a way, transmission of Libertarian Political ideas has been under the control of “Purists” who score very close to 100/100 on the Nolan Quiz. This is a relatively small group of libertarians who have redefined “libertarian” as attaining the same score on the Nolan Quiz that they got. So, we now have a small, priestly caste controling Libertarian Ideas. The net result over 35 years has been an emphasis on internal consistency and a deemphasis on the other aspects of a viable political party.

In many ways, Purists use the Nolan Quiz much like Mensans use the Scholastic Aptitude Test.

24. Propositions will tend to be transmitted until they are disproved, therefore propositions that cannot be disproved can be transmitted indefinitely.

The 2006 convention was definitely a crack in the wall. It actually succeeded beyond most LRC member's expectations. In a way, the LP's “purist” formulation is a lot like a supersaturated solution in Chemistry or Physics—All it takes is a seed crystal and the precipitate begins to form, and a lower energy state is reached.

Remember the phrase scrawled on the desks in Freshmen Chemistry Class: If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the precipitate!

Keep on writin' brothers and sisters!

25. Doctrines can influence the verification proceedures that operate within the proof zone.

Purists have taken everything that is not locical and set it equal to zero. They have taken every argument that is not based upon axiomatic logic and removed it from their midst. Purists have confused truthfulness with internal consistency.

Purists have played this game way too long. But we do have to show them to their satisfaction that Pragmatism will not degenerate into statism.

If the Road to Serfdom is inevitable, then why are any of us here anyway? Besides, the Earth will one day be consumed by the expanding Sun and all will perish in the fire of that dying star.

Eons later, the Universe itself will either expand and reach absolute zero, or contract once again and consume all matter as we know it. Then we will all either freeze or we will all burn, burn, burn in the eternal flames of Hell.

But if our Universe is actually a four dimentional membrane suspended in an incomprehensible eleven-dimensional bulk space, then all bets are off!

Have a nice day!

If you comment on these, it might be helpful to give the tenet's number so that others can keep track.

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