The Case for Localist Populism

After the 2020 United States Presidential Election, it’s become very apparent that our current neoliberal democratic social order isn’t sustainable. This country is too diverse for its own damn good. There are too many political, cultural, ethnic, religious, and other interest groups with conflicting visions regarding how society should be structured and organized in the near future. It’s impossible for all these conflicting interest groups to get what they want. All it takes is 51% of the population to decide what happens to the other 49% in a democratic election. This means the minority vote will always get shafted in favor of the majority vote’s interests. This is great if you agree with the establishment but terrible for everyone else. Local populations need more of a say in how their communities should be structured and governed. This is where Localist Populism comes in.

Localist Populism Defined: The definition of “Populist” according to the Webster Dictionary is “a member of a political party claiming to represent the common people”. The definition of Localism according to the Webster Dictionary is “affection or partiality for a particular place”. Localist Populism is simply the process of appealing to the masses within particular local communities. The end goal of Localist Populism is self-governance (the ability to rule yourself), self-determination (the right to choose your future), and decentralization (local autonomy). Now that we’ve explained what Localist Populism is, let’s go over the various tenets of the philosophy starting with self-governance.

Self-Governance: The right to govern yourself originates from self-ownership. Self-ownership is the right to be the sole owner of your own body. No one has the right to sell you into slavery or claim ownership of you because that would imply that slavery is justifiable. If you have the right to own your own body then you have the right to decide what you can do with your body so long as you aren’t violating the self-ownership rights of others (for more information on negative rights such as self-ownership go here). This is where the right to rule yourself comes from. The problem with modern liberal democracies is that they place out-of-touch representatives in office who don’t know a thing about the average person’s needs and wants. This is why we need to preserve the right to self-govern— only you know what’s best for yourself. This doesn’t mean you’re omniscient, you’re just far more familiar with your own needs and wants than any federal bureaucrat could ever be.

Self-Determination: Although Self-Ownership and Self-Determination are connected, the two terms have very different meanings. Unlike Self-Ownership— Self-Determination is focused on your right to dictate your future rather than solely on your right to govern yourself. The reason why self-determination is important is due to political polarization. Examples of political polarization within the United States include:

• As of March 23rd 2022 29% of Americans support legal abortion with no restrictions, 27% support it with some restrictions, 28% believe it should be illegal in most cases, 11% believe it should be illegal in all cases, and 4% are unsure. [Source]
• As of March 23rd 2022, 55% of Americans oppose Joe Biden, 40% support him, 6% are unsure. [Source]
• As of March 23rd 2022, 42% of Americans think the US economy is in a very bad shape, 26% thinks it’s fairly bad, 23% thinks it’s fairly good, 5% thinks it’s very good, 4% are unsure. [Source]
• As of March 23rd 2022, 63% of Americans think the US is heading in the wrong direction, 27% thinks it’s heading in the right direction, 10% are unsure. [Source]
• As of March 23rd 2022, 44% of Americans are not concerned with the Coronavirus within their local area, 27% are alittle concerned, 21% moderately concerned, 8% are extremely concerned, roughly 1% are unsure. [Source]
• As of March 23rd 2022, 44% of Americans support Black Lives Matter, 43% oppose it, 12% neither support or oppose it, 1% are unsure. [Source]
• As of March 23 2022, 48% of Americans support stricter gun control laws, 47% oppose stricter gun control laws, 4-5% are unsure. [Source]
• As of March 23rd 2022, 56% of Americans have unfavorable views of the left-wing Democractic Party, 36% favorable, 8% are unsure. [Source]
• As of March 23rd 2022, 71% of Americans support legal marijuana, 18% oppose it, 10% are unsure. [Source]
• As of March 23rd 2022, 52% of Americans support providing a path to legal citizenship for illegal immigrants, 3% are unsure. [Source]
• As of March 23drd 2022, 57% of Americans support a tax on the wealthy, 33% are opposed and 10% are unsure. [Source]

This political polarization prevents various demographics from living together peacefully. The solution to this problem is by letting local populations vote for their independence. Another solution to achieve self-determination for disenfranchised demographics would be through extreme use of nullification to weaken federal authority. The main goal of self-determination is to allow societal dissidents to separate and craft an autonomous community that suits their personal needs. A common argument against secession is the absurd idea that secession is “treason”. American Abolitionist Lysander Spooner debunks this argument in his essay series “No Treason“[Audiobook version]. Another argument against secession is the Supreme Court case Texas v. White. Although this Supreme Court case does seem like a solid argument against legal secession— it also contains a loophole that benefits secessionists. Another argument against secession is the stupid idea that China or some other foreign power could somehow conquer a divided America. If you want to know why this isn’t a great argument against secession I recommend reading this Mises article or this archived Twitter thread I made a few months ago.

Decentralization: In order to explain why decentralizing authority benefits everyone— I recommend watching this video made by Man Against The State:

In conclusion, Localist Populism benefits everyone. It doesn’t matter what your political beliefs are. You could be a socialist, capitalist, integralist, distributist, corporatist, etc. Regardless of what your political beliefs are, we can all get what we want. As long as we remain separate from one another, true peace and political autonomy can be obtained.