Making light work of libertarianism

A third and final blast from the Mighty D, then my evening is complete. I am easily pleased, dear Boaty & D readers. Quite whether that was too much information for this time of the evening is for me to know and you to find out.

I want to talk about another issue that unites and brings libertarians together. Recently I talked about the Myleene Klass / offensive weapon row, which was in the press the other day. Today I am talking about something that can get all of us libertarians a-noddin'-and-a-smoilin'.

Yep, that's right. Work.

You don't have to be a Randite libertarian to appreciate and understand the importance of work for the individual. All libertarians know that it is by an individual's effort and personal endeavour that their successes and standing should be realised.

It underpins our stance on statism, welfarism, equality and individual rights. Everything ultimately comes down to 'what can the individual do for himself and his family', as opposed to what he can or must do for his state or for strangers.

We also know about what it means for the human soul. For pride and meaning. To work is to say ' I do not depend on or burden you, I am doing my bit. I am making my own way'.

There is much to say about work, and very little against it. If work is bad, and creates misery, then in a proper libertarian country, there would be choice, social mobility and a tax system that would be so beneficial for the individual, that fresh, new, different opportunities and ideas would abound.

But what I want to say about work is this. For me, libertarianism ought to never, ever be about snobbery or looking down on your fellow man for the work he does. I believe an entirely equal amount of respect and consideration ought to be given to people regardless of their job.

I have always taken this view and I will to my dying day. I speak to and regard a CEO of a company or a multi millionaire tycoon with not a speck of difference to the way I treat cleaners, cabbies and bar maids. Work, effort, productivity and self reliance are the values. The job spec and the money is irrelevant.

This is where the nuts and bolts of libertarianism is to be found. In how we see, treat and regard people according to what they say and do. This is what it is all about. Because how people are treated can manifest itself as a bed of roses or a blue touch paper attached to a large bomb. How people are treated is, fundamentally, one of the most important drivers of politics across the globe.

Treat people well and with consistent fairness, and no matter what your politics, you will get a good result. Treat them like dogs, and you could have the cure for Cancer in your sky rocket, but you'd still be seen as a total cunt.

It is with sadness, though not with surprise, that there are libertarians out there who would break from this proper position on work and individual worth. On 5th January, I popped on Old Holborn's blog (the notoriously rude, offensive blogger who masquerades as a 'libertarian') and he came back at me calling me dismissively and with haughty arrogance a: "moped seller from Bradford".

Even if I did sell mopeds and lived in Bradford, which I do not, what would be wrong with that? Some months back he came out with a similar theme, saying that I could not afford the 'bus fair from Bradford'.

Again, if I could not afford to visit London from Bradford via the Omnibus, and I can, why would that make me a lesser or unworthy person?

We as libertarians must junk such disgraceful attitudes if we are to progress as a philosophy in the hearts and minds of fellow Britons.

It doesn't matter what you do, or how much money you have. It is about the basics of our grand, beautiful political philosophy and one of those basic tenets is the importance of work. Whatever that work may be.

Oafish fools and misanthropic, sneering bigots such as that Holborn character who berated me for being a 'moped seller' do libertarianism a grave injustice. Ignore them, and their blind, blithering hypocrisy. Let them obsess over meaningless Westminster tittle tattle, and focus on things that are actually important and worth fighting for.

p.s. my comments on work won't apply to people who are retired. Obviously. They've done their bit.