RSS Feed MenuEveryone but me seems to think the latest article from David Boaz is awesome.
In the article, David Boaz tries to explain the Civil War as a libertarian triumph:
If you had to choose, would you rather live in a country with a department of labor and even an income tax or a Dred Scott decision and a Fugitive Slave Act?
Fair enough; one can easily see that ending slavery certainly ought to have been a libertarian end. However, it was accomplished with stunningly anti-libertarian means (not that I’m complaining; I’m not a libertarian), and by a political coalition — the Republican coalition — that held no other libertarian ends.
Look, the Republican party was anti-free trade, for “corporate welfare” to railroads, for a national bank, for expansive executive powers, and wanted to use the federal government’s powers to ban marriages not between one man and one woman during the polygamy controversy. Once the Civil War was over, they pretty much got what they wanted.
So, some liberties and alleged liberties went by the wayside, to create a greater liberty. ”A new birth of freedom,” even. But what I don’t see among a lot of libertarians today is the same willingness to make tactical compromises to accomplish their greater ends. For instance, here’s one libertarian’s litmus test for supporting candidates:
…I don’t want to back candidates who support
- the war in Iraq
- the war in Afghanistan
- war with Iran
- the war on drugs
- the constitutional amendment to override state marriage laws and make gay people second-class citizens
- the president’s power to snatch American citizens off the street and hold them without access to a lawyer or a judge
- new restrictions on immigration.
That Libertarian? David Boaz.
knowtheory // Apr 9, 2010 at 2:03 am
And exactly what cause are you asking them to compromise their policies for?
I’m not a libertarian either, but what greater liberty is there to serve in the modern world than the ones David Boaz’s policies support?
The ones i can immediately think of would i surmise would draw objections from both you and Boaz, namely rights and livable wages for foreign workers who produce goods consumed in America (i.e. more responsibility and regulation on corporations regarding outsourcing), and modern day slavery and human trafficking.
ottovbvs // Apr 9, 2010 at 9:57 am
…..Actually the little list at the end is indeed purist Libertarian in the context of the here and now…..it’s not Republican or even conservative but that assumes Libertarianism is the same as these two when it isn’t…….Mr Brownson’s problem is that he views the Libertarian movement as just a useful ally for Republicanism…..that’s it’s only function……come and vote Republican but don’t actully expect us to legalize marijuana or pull back from nation building…..in a way it’s not very different from the co-option of the religious right…..come vote Republican……but when in absolute power they actually did little to further the agenda of the christian right because basically it’s anathema to a comfortable majority of the country…..the role of these sub groups to Mr Brownson is essentially voting cannon fodder…..their wishes and desires have no appeal to him or the Republican leadership
rbottoms // Apr 9, 2010 at 11:42 am
Libertarians are Republicans who want to smoke dope while driving without seat belts or license plates on toll roads. An un-serious bunch as can be found in politics, but then that’s why so few of them ever get elected to anything. Essentially a self-correcting problem.
DFL // Apr 9, 2010 at 2:04 pm
That’s actually pretty funny, mr. bottoms.
The Civil War will be argued over forever. One thing all sides can pretty much agree on is that the Civil War was not in the least any sort of libertarian triumph. Libertarianism is about as relevant to the Civil War as icebergs are to equatorial navigation.
sinz54 // Apr 11, 2010 at 4:58 pm
DFL: That’s actually pretty funny, mr. bottoms.
It wasn’t original.
But it’s still funny.
mlindroo // Apr 11, 2010 at 10:13 pm
A joke about small government conservatives, from Washington Monthly.
” my neighbor went to public schools before joining the military. He went to college on the G.I. Bill, bought his first home through the FHA, and received his health care through the V.A. and Medicare. He now receives Social Security.
He’s a conservative because he wants to get the government off his back.”
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A not-so-funny poll on incoherent public fiscal policy opinion [ http://www.economist.com/blogs/democracyinamerica/2010/04/economistyougov_polling ]. America is supposedly a center-right country so consequently when it comes to decreasing the deficit, cutting spending is a more popular approach than raising taxes, by a lopsided margin of 62% to 5%. Yet the same respondents refuse to consider cutting 15 significant areas of the federal budget including Medicare and Social Security (just 7% favor spending cuts in those areas).
MARCU$
You Already Know The Words To That Old Janis Joplin Song « Around The Sphere // Apr 15, 2010 at 10:04 am
[...] Orestes Brownson at FrumForm: Fair enough; one can easily see that ending slavery certainly ought to have been a libertarian end. However, it was accomplished with stunningly anti-libertarian means (not that I’m complaining; I’m not a libertarian), and by a political coalition — the Republican coalition — that held no other libertarian ends. [...]