Philosophers

I used to admire philosophers. When I was a kid my father kept telling me about Karl Popper. I was dreaming of becoming an intellectual like Karl Popper myself. And yet I was aware that money has priority in life, so I followed my father's wish and studied medicine, and later computer science.

During my days as a student I have also read works of Ludwig von Mises. My impression of his works is that he was a reasonable person. As I was involved in a circle of libertarian-leaning students and young graduates, I also got to know the thinking of Ayn Rand, but I found it to be too one-sided and biased. My feelings about Friedrich August von Hayek are similar.

I also read works of Karl Marx in order to understand what motivated socialism. Thus I effectively learned about oppression and slavery. All in all however I felt that Marx went too far with his views of a classless society and dictatorship of the proletariate.

In recent years the media report about increasing right-wing populism and extremism in Europe and Northern America. I learned that many of the modern right-wing thinkers base their thinking on writings of people such as Julius Evola, Rene Guenon and Mircea Eliade. This has made me investigate the teachings of these scholars, whom I had never heard of before. I found them to be strange, odd, irrational, and simply wrong. I fail to understand how grown-up, serious-minded people such as Bannon can believe such teachings.

Classical Liberalism in Austria

After the turn of the millennium, new parties were founded in Austria, apparently because a growing part of the population no longer felt addressed by the classic big parties. Although I had enrolled in medicine and computer science at the university, I also read a lot about political theory and history. The writings of classical-liberal thinkers like Karl Popper and Ludwig von Mises appealed to me the most. My dream was that a party whose politics would follow the principles of this classical liberalism would be able to make its way into the National Council.

When a new student party, the Young Liberals of Austria, was founded in 2009, I was initially reluctant to decide whether or not to join it; after all, although I was politically interested, I did not see myself as a professional politician. But then I decided to become a member of the party. Together with some other groups, the Young Liberals merged into the NEOS party, which actually entered the National Council in 2013 and 2017. Liberal thought is thus again represented in the Austrian parliament.

But whether Austria has become a liberal country is questionable. In professional life, party membership is often decisive for who gets a certain position. Anyone who wants to make a career would do well not to express themselves politically in public.

In addition, a small party with only a few members of parliament has only limited scope for action. The only thing that could happen is that it will one day play the small tune on the scales as a majority buyer.

At least I am glad that my dream has come true.

Klassischer Liberalismus in Österreich

Nach der Jahrtausendwende kam es in Österreich immer wieder zu Gründungen neuer Parteien, offenbar weil sich ein wachsender Teil der Bevölkerung nicht mehr von den klassischen Großparteien angesprochen fühlte. Obwohl ich an der Universität Medizin und Informatik inskribiert hatte, las ich auch viel über politische Theorie und Geschichte. Dabei sprachen mich die Schriften von klassisch-liberalen Denkern wie Karl Popper und Ludwig von Mises am meisten an. Mein Traum war, dass eine Partei den Einzug in den Nationalrat schaffen möge, deren Politik den Grundsätzen dieses klassischen Liberalismus folgt.

Als 2009 eine neue Studentenpartei, die Jungen Liberalen Österreichs, gegründet wurde, war ich mit meiner Entscheidung, ob ich dieser Partei beitreten sollte, zunächst zurückhaltend; schließlich war ich zwar politisch interessiert, sah mich selbst aber nicht als Berufspolitiker. Dann aber beschloss ich doch, Parteimitglied zu werden. Gemeinsam mit einigen anderen Gruppierungen gingen die Jungen Liberalen in der Partei NEOS auf, die 2013 und 2017 tatsächlich den Einzug in den Nationalrat schaffte. Liberales Gedankengut ist somit wieder im österreichischen Parlament vertreten.

Ob damit aber Österreich zu einem liberalen Land geworden sei, ist fraglich. Im Berufsleben ist oft die Parteizugehörigkeit entscheidend dafür, wer einen bestimmten Posten bekommt. Wer Karriere machen will, tut gut daran, sich nicht öffentlich politisch zu äußern.

Zudem verfügt eine Kleinpartei, die nur wenige Abgeordnete stellt, nur über begrenzte Gestaltungsmöglichkeiten. Es könnte höchstens passieren, dass sie einmal als Mehrheitsbeschafferin das Zünglein an der Waage spielen wird.

Zumindest bin ich froh darüber, dass mein Traum Realität geworden ist.