Supper Club Special

February 1983

To appear at the next meeting of the Libertarian Supper Club will be Neil Reynolds, Leader of the Libertarian Party of Canada, who will be visiting Vancouver on the last leg of his western Canadian Tour, and Carl Watner of "The Voluntaryists", who will be coming direct to us from his home in Baltimore, Maryland.

This special meeting of the Supper Club will be held at 7 pm, Saturday March 5, 1983, at the Chateau Granville, here in Vancouver.

Neil Reynolds and Carl Watner will be presenting their opposing viewpoints about which strategies and tactics you can use in your own struggle with regulation, taxes and other State burdens.

It would be difficult for anyone to deny that today there is much wrong with the human condition. Everywhere mankind is bedeviled by conflict and suffering. Ominous developments threaten us with everything from economic disaster to nuclear annihilation.

The libertarian philosophy like so many others offering a world view claims to have a solution. But libertarianism distinguishes itself by withstanding close rational scrutiny and by not relying on appeals to the mystical. It makes sense.

We libertarians are driven by a desire to understand the world in which we find ourselves and a need to successfully come to terms with it. Although we are primarily motivated by self-interest, our search for a universal ethic invariably leads us to also be concerned with the values and actions of others.

Since all men do not live by such a code of non-aggression and even more to the point, since our State institutions are based on aggression, a libertarian is continually confronted by situations which violate his most fundamental values.

The primary problem he must solve is: "How can I stop this aggression (against me)?"

Since libertarianism is a young movement, it is not surprising that there is still considerable discussion of the question of method.

Libertarians are united on the fundamental principle. They are not united on strategy and tactics.

Two interrelated questions are under consideration.

First, can the lives and property of individuals better be protected from aggression by some form of government which is limited to those functions only, or does the existence of any State, with its attendant compulsory features, itself violate the non-aggression credo? This may be termed the minarchist/anarchist dialogue.

Second, can a non-coercive social condition best be realized through the electoral-political process or does this too violate the non-aggression credo? This may be termed the libertarian Party/Voluntaryist dialogue.

Neither of these questions may be dismissed as arcane squabbles of no relevance to anyone -- especially by those who consider themselves committed libertarians. Even for those not yet convinced that the libertarian movement offers solutions to dilemmas which confront them, such consideration cannot help but have a salutary effect on their own world-view.

This edition of the West Coast Libertarian is dedicated to providing you with background information that we hope will make your next Supper Club even more enjoyable.

We are certain that you will find the ideas presented by Neil Reynolds and Carl Watner, at this special meeting of the Supper Club, to be both entertaining and stimulating and we look forward to renewing old friendships then.