“Libertarian Islamist” an Oxymoron

By Tom Rhodes, 7/29/2013

The foundational principles of libertarian philosophy include the Non Aggression Principle, Equality under the law, and the Rule of Law. You cannot honestly say you’re a Libertarian if you don’t believe that all laws should apply to everybody equally, and that no individual or group is above the law. Believing that any individual or group should have different laws or be treated differently under the law is the path to tyranny and not compatible with libertarianism.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) arguably the image and positions of Islamists in America. The official position they have taken, as Mustafa Carroll, executive director of the Dallas-Fort Worth CAIR branch, told a crowd at a rally is that Islam that members of the faith should not be bound by American law.

“If we are practicing Muslims, we are above the law of the land” ~ Mustafa Carroll, executive director of the Dallas-Fort Worth CAIR branch

At least he is open and honest about the Islamic Principles. They do not believe in the Rule of Law. The rally was held in Austin as part of a nationwide effort to hold “Muslim Capitol Day” events.

There is currently a push by some “libertarian” Islamists, to gain acceptance of Islamists in the LP. The general goal is to label and smear those doesn’t say that Islamism is libertarian and embrace Islamists in the LP is bigots. While ignoring debate about principles.

If the LP is the party of principle, it cannot and must not accept people who proclaim that belonging to any group puts them above the law of the land. Not only does this concept violate the Rule of Law, it violates the NAP, it proposes to use the force of government to silence opinions and ideas they don't like and to grant them special privileges over others.

The concept our government was created is that “all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights.” To be a good Muslim you must reject this notion. Islamists belief system and holy writ claim that those who don’t believe as they believe are sub-human, and must pay for the privilege of not being Muslim, or become enslaved, or be put to death. Until that basic premise is rejected by Islam, it is not compatible with modern western civilization, much less libertarian principles or the LP.

As long as Islamists reject the rule of law, and want different rules for some people than others, and promote group ideology over individual rights they are not compatible with libertarian philosophy, nor are they compatible with the LP. This isn’t to say if you’re a Muslim you can’t be a member of the LP or can’t be libertarian, but it is to say if you reject the Rule of Law and want different laws or courts for Muslims than the rest of America, you have rejected the LP and its principles. If you don’t openly and publicly reject the idea that “practicing Muslims, we are above the law of the land,” you don’t have a place in the LP.