The partial application of the libertarian ethic underpins the legal systems of almost every modern democratic country, including India. These laws were born not out of evidence-based analysis, historical continuity or testing, but through theories and treatises that informed those who set out to challenge the monarchies and dictators.
Back then it was simply called liberalism, till it was butchered over the decades by socialists, utilitarians and positivists.
Libertarianism is simply the old, original liberalism redefined and applied more consistently.
It takes the current set of basic legal principles like fundamental rights, rule of law, natural justice and improves upon it.
The libertarian ethic and the Austrian school of economic thought, what I call the Austro-libertarian body of ideas, are the only ones that can tackle Dravidianism and Periyarism on all fronts in the realm of ideas: moral, ethical, political, legal, cultural, spiritual and economic.
I do not see any other alternative for the future of Tamil society.
Moral and Ethical
The Libertarian ethic is rooted in the principles of non-aggression, self-ownership, voluntary exchange and association, natural rights and the rule of natural law arrived at through reason.
These principles offer a strong underpinning for an objective standard of justice that is consistent and universally applicable. It is not culture-specific.
It is an ethical and moral counter to the Dravidian ideology. Conservatives counter Dravidianism by dismissing that there is no such thing as universal morality or ethics. But that's not a good counter. That's running away from the fight. Ethics and morals do matter. Ideals matter.
Law and politics are normative in character. Avoiding normative stances means one is giving space for chaos and arbitrary power.
Without a consistent conception of justice, no society can function and no social order can emerge. The Libertarian ethic offers that in the most pragmatic way possible, in alignment with the nature of man. This is something that the conservatives lack.
Libertarianism can expose the moral and ethical bankruptcy of Dravidianism with a system of ideas that are actually rational in practice.
Periyarism is not rationalism like its proponents claim.
Libertarianism is the true rationalism.
Political and legal
Dravidianism uses quotas, subsidies, and freebies to win elections. It has always been their strategy.
It is not an economic policy that is meant to help people or actually does help people (as we'll see later).
It is a political policy meant to help themselves.
Conservatives, in the name of bringing about change, propose to do the same thing but merely replace one set of cronies and special interests with another, the ones that Dravidianism ignores.
This is just going around in circles with no end in sight. Words and narratives may differ, but conservatives in practice do not practice what they preach. They offer no real alternative. Just the same type of politics repackaged with a different garb.
Both sides abuse the constitution and the rule of law and use it as a bludgeon to give themselves more power when they are incumbents. The other side cries about it when they are in the opposition but do the same thing when they themselves come to power, and continue to conveniently uphold the previously introduced dystopian laws if it is useful.
India's constitution and legal system is a failure.
It has been tinkered with like very few other constitutions in existence. It was built on liberal ideas after they were butchered by socialists, utilitarians and positivists as I mentioned. It was built on weak and inconsistent principles.
Dravidianism survives and thrives thanks to the constitution and laws that have been imposed on Indians.
Good examples of this are the Directive State Principles and the first amendment and much more listed in the following note
There is no other political body of thought that effectively counters it by presenting a consistent basis for legal reforms except for the libertarian one.
Spiritually and culturally
Periyarism and Dravidianism are fundamentally materialist.
They dismiss Hindu traditions as superstition and elitism without ever taking the time to understand the nuances.
In the place of spiritual discovery, they elevate state-worship.
Libertarianism is about the separation of temple and state.
It ideas call for the removal of the government from religious affairs.
It is the only one that actually has a good argument for why temples must be freed and the HR&CE abolished.
It is the only one that can offer the legal argument for invalidating the waqf board, that is actually grounded in reason.
Libertarianism can protect Hinduism from political destructionism and bring it back to its spontaneous, organic, peaceful, spiritual and anarchic roots.
Dravidianism is a project of destruction. It rewrites history, mocks ritual, weaponizes caste, and divides society.
It treats culture as something to be engineered, regulated, and policed.
It tries to mold people to ideology rather than allow free individuals to shape culture themselves, which is how Hinduism can evolve to suit the modern world.
Culture is an emergent, spontaneous order. It evolves through the free choices of individuals, not by legal mandates. Government can only destroy culture and its institutions. It cannot protect it.
This is also why a Chinese-style system that promotes materialism in all walks of life is ill-suited for India.
Economic
This is where we move from the normative realm of talking about what should be to the descriptive realm of what actually is.
The term that we can assign to Dravidian economic policy, i.e. 'The Dravidian model' is 'Interventionism'.
It is the policy that the entire world follows, including China, India and America. Dravidianist policy is not different.
Liberal, conservative, communism with Chinese characteristics, Scandinavian socialism, Islamic monarchy.. doesn't matter.
It is an attempt at this unrealistic notion of 'a balance between capitalism and socialism'.
The system is characterised by a partial free market in enterprise with never-ending regulations, ever-expanding bureaucracy, fiat money, subsidies, freebies, welfare, centrally planned interest rates and fractional reserve banking.
Government spending usually drives nearly half the economic activity and comprises a major part of the so-called GDP.
If spending or debt is cut down, the economy will collapse as a result.
So they must inevitably take on more public debt, tax more, spend more and keep interest rates low.
It will lead to booms > malinvestment > overproduction > bubbles > busts > bailouts.
Government's role in the economy will keep expanding till we reach total socialism, where the state intervenes in all aspects of an individual's economic affairs.
Not to mention perpetual inflation. Prices will never go down no matter how much production increases. Everything will keep getting expensive. Tax burdens will increase. People will get richer in terms of numbers in their bank account whereas purchasing power of what they have will always go down.
Austrian economics, by contrast, reveals that wealth is created through savings, deferred consumption, sound money, private initiative, entrepreneurship and interest rates driven by the free market.
A policy of Laissez-faire is the real alternative to interventionism.