Panliberalism

Panliberalism is the politics of universal friendship. All persons are accepted as dignified equals. We oppose hierarchy, dominance, and subjugation. We seek a society in which no one is excluded, and everyone has an honored place. Friends and dignified equals cooperate through voluntary action and not subjugation. Therefore, we must not, we cannot, we do not, we will not impose our will on others, nor command them, nor punish them for actions harmless to others or beliefs we do not share. Governments should support and enable each of us, command and direct none of us.

Panliberalism is a political philosophy of openness and the integration and equality of all persons, including the marginalized, poor, downtrodden, and excluded. The combining form “pan” suggests not only that panliberalism encompasses all persons, including the marginalized, vilified, downtrodden, and excluded, but also all the institutions and organizations of an open society including not only markets, but also religions, friendly societies, cooperatives, and so on.

Cooperation among equals means agreement and coordination based on the varieties of inherently dispersed knowledge among free individuals. The only alternative is a resort to force and threats to impose involuntary compliance. Governments must not command the downtrodden or treat them as instruments for ends chosen by official experts. The principle of equality requires personal freedom, voluntary exchange, and above all peace among all peoples and persons.

The panliberal political program calls for universal peace, universal tolerance, universal equality. It calls for free speech, free trade, free choice, and free movement all within the bounds of justice understood primarily as security from intentional or negligent injury. It calls for a democracy in political and legislative processes. It calls for a democracy that honors and protects the right of minority dissent. And it calls for the governmental support of all citizens through a universal basic income, unconditional on private wealth or income, that can replace current means-tested welfare programs; universal minimum health insurance with market enhancement options enabling a more harmonious fit with individual circumstance. Free and equal access to primary and secondary education through vouchers redeemable in private schools. We see this as part of the transition from the public provision and financing of education to the private provision and public financing of education. Just as the government relies on private industry to build its military equipment, it should rely on the private provision of education. The government is much better at writing checks, monitoring and testing their product purchases, than it is in producing things. Its adventures in direct production—education and veterans’ hospitals have been plagued by corruption and poor quality.

Panliberalism is the call for

1. Universal Peace

2. Universal Tolerance

3. Universal Equality

4. Free Speech

5. Free Trade

6. Free Movement

7. Democracy

8. Citizen support

a. Universal basic income

b. Universal health insurance

c. Educational vouchers

1. Universal Peace

Universal friendship implies peace among peoples and persons. Peace is our first and highest political goal.

War kills and destroys. It enriches a few, while raining death and destruction on the many. It breaks the ties of friendship and cooperation. And in the modern world it carries with it dangers to civilization and even the whole of the species. War is bad; peace is good. If goods and migrants do not cross borders, soldiers may.

Domestic strife and violence also break the ties of friendship. They may kill or injure. They abrogate agreements, destroy property, frustrate plans, and impede social cooperation.

We call for peace between nations, peace between peoples, peace between factions, ethnicities, and religions, peace between individuals.

2. Universal Tolerance

Universal friendship implies universal tolerance. The political authorities must abide all opinions, all religions, all genders, all sexual preferences, all political ideologies, all idiosyncratic lifestyles, all infirmities, disabilities, eccentricities, and free human choices that do not aggress against others or deprive them of freedom of choice. Each of us must follow their conscience where it leads, seeking meaning and purpose in life. We must be free, therefore, to conduct experiments in living. No earthly authority should have the power to impose a moral code or mode of living on the unwilling.

3. Universal Equality

Universal friendship implies equality. We are all dignified equals. In systems of command and control there is a hierarchy in which those of higher rank direct and instruct those of lower rank. The relation is asymmetrical and hierarchical and only one person acts and chooses. In a symmetrical relationship among equals, cooperation occurs through agreement; disagreement implies persuasion, compromise, or peaceful coexistence. In a symmetrical relation among equals, no one is transformed from human actor to wooden pawn piece.

4. Free Speech

Universal friendship implies freedom of speech. Speech includes nonviolent persuasion in all its forms. No private citizen, government expert, firm, bureau, committee, or council has a pipeline to the truth. The truth must be discovered through exploration. And we need many seekers, each pursuing their own vision. It is from the contestation among such visions that truth emerges. We value multiple voices and multiple perspectives. Such viewpoint diversity is the life of truth discovery. Silencing dissent in the name of science is the end of truth. When governments dictate what is a fact and what is “misinformation” and “disinformation” they abandon persuasion in favor of indoctrination. But truth is a living thing and not a dead doctrine. When governments monopolize truth, less of it is supplied and even alert and skeptical citizens may fall under the bad influence of false propaganda. Truth lives in the free and spontaneous interactions of persons, and groups with different experiences, different opinions, and different visions. Free speech is the most important civil liberty. Without free speech, no other civil liberty is meaningful.

5. Free Trade

Universal friendship implies free trade. A hand extended horizontally in a gesture of friendship may be grasped by an equal who accepts an offer of exchange. This horizontal relationship between equals is the proper model for all commercial activity. The principle of free trade applies across political boundaries and personal differences alike. Legislative and regulatory restrictions on voluntary agreement are usually inappropriate. They are often made in service of large and powerful economic interests that have harnessed governmental authorities to promote monopoly power. And governmental authorities have often harnessed commercial enterprises to promote state power.

The voluntary exchange of two equals is the most effective alternative to both state power and monopoly power. Voluntary exchange challenges power and oppression. Even trade in harmful substances like alcohol and recreational drugs should not be prohibited. Unenforceable prohibition produces domestic or border violence emanating from artificially high prices and the entry of specialized firms who privately police and defend their suppressed markets.

The power and autonomy of large corporations should be recognized as a threat to free trade, free speech, and person liberty. Modern corporations can hold voting shares of other corporations, making it possible for a group of large corporations to own controlling shares in one another and thus in themselves. This evil creates untouchable, free floating monopolies with uncontrolled power over the people. As the Wall Street Journal (https://twitter.com/WSJopinion/status/1565135916456452097) has reported, “Three of the largest investment shops in the U.S.—BlackRock, Vanguard and State Street . . . own each other and themselves.” From this position of irresponsible power, they have forced other corporations “to comply with their preferred set of environmental, social and governance policies.” The undemocratic power of a dictatorial government has fallen into the hands of nominally private enterprises whose power and position cannot be challenged or reversed. Free entry and exit in markets is the economic equivalent of free speech.

6. Free Movement

Universal friendship implies free movement across national borders. Anyone should be free to take a job anywhere. A modern nation-state is not a private club or a for- profit enterprise. It is a collective of persons, groups, organizations, and communities pursuing different ends with different means in which both the ends and the means are part of an emergent evolutionary order. Limits on free migration impede voluntary exchange and preserve the misery of the world’s poorest and most oppressed populations. The evidence shows that poor immigrants to rich countries do not increase crime rates or suppress domestic wages. The increase in labor supply from migration creates an increase in demand for the goods and services migrants buy and, therefore, an increase in the demand for the labor that provides them. Free trade does not harm domestic workers; it improves the life chances of both migrants and the citizens of the countries they migrate to.

7. Democracy

Governments are a grave potential threat to peace, tolerance, equality, and personal liberty. At the same time, governments are necessary to produce, protect, and enable them. Democracy gives the people an opportunity to discipline bad governments and elicit good government. It is a decidedly imperfect affair. But we prefer the cacophony of democracy to the shackles of autocracy.

8. Citizen support with universal basic income, universal health insurance, and educational vouchers

A democratic government should support its citizens and enable them to become better and fully autonomous. To this end we support a generous “welfare state,” but one that does not stifle initiative or self-definition or personal incentives to improve and excel. The risk of income loss or low income should be answered with universal basic income. This guaranteed floor is our assurance that life’s turns and twists will not condemn us to penury and privation. The basic income is paid no matter one’s income, which should be taxed at rates that are reasonable, predictable, and moderate. In many countries today, government support is provided through special programs with income caps. Only households with incomes below a certain threshold qualify for aid. This seemingly reasonable and obvious provision creates, however, a “benefits cliff.” A small gain in earned income may produce a large loss in government benefits, which effectively punishes initiative and self-reliance, trapping beneficiaries into low incomes and dependence on government programs and handouts. The benefits cliff is an unintended offence to human dignity and a brake on upward mobility. It is bad and must be ended.

Just as we want everyone to enjoy a minimum income consistent with common decency, we want to break the link between the size of a household’s income and the quality of healthcare it receives. To that end, we support universal health insurance. We seek to move, ultimately, toward a system in which such insurance can be provided wholly through private insurers paid with vouchers. More important than any imagined benefit of vouchers, however, is the principle of universal basic coverage.

And, finally, we seek to break the link between the size of a household’s income and the quality of the education its children receive. Government should enable education through vouchers, but not produce education in public schools.