The death of liberaltarianism?
One of my best friends went to high school debate camp and roomed with a girl who responded to my friend's statement that she was a libertarian by saying "Yeah, I'm a liberaltarian, too." The mistake was proof that she didn't know what a libertarian actually was. Many years later Brink Lindsey, a libertarian with seething animosity toward the cultural right, began something he called liberaltarianism. He wanted to form an alliance between progressives and libertarians. It never really got going and this week word got out that CATO, where he served as a VP, no longer had any use for him besides. Slate's Dave Weigel asked if it was "a purge." And if you consider the departure of two people a purge, it definitely was.
But Examiner columnist Tim Carney says that President Barack Obama is to blame for the purge:
Lindsey's project - building political alliances between libertarians and liberals - is (or was) a bold one, and not impossible in theory. Cato and the Left generally agree on constraining federal surveillance powers, reforming detention of terror suspects, and humanizing our criminal justice system. Gay marriage, abortion, and embryo research also provide common ground. Lindsey coined "liberal-tarian" in 2006, and many Beltway libertarians vocally supported Obama in 2008.
But then Obama's presidency happened. Obama immediately passed the largest spending bill in history, and then he fired an aide who was trying to close Guantanamo.
He nationalized General Motors and stuck his hands into Chrysler's bankruptcy while escalating the war in Afghanistan. Obama required every American to buy health insurance and increased government control over health care. He's increased federal control over finance, mortgages, tobacco and food while fighting to get his hands on political speech, energy, and manufacturing. Obama is the greatest enemy of economic liberty most Americans have ever seen.
The fact that the liberaltarians continued to defend (however lukewarmly) President Obama despite this made the entire movement seem like a joke. And Carney points out other problems, comparing this "purge" with David Frum's exit from AEI. Very interesting read.
In theory, the alliance with liberals was a great idea. In practice, it never came about. That probably says much more about progressives than it does about libertarians. But it is also true that when building a coalition, you don't neglect other key parts. And the liberaltarian cheerleading for Obama and derision of the tea parties, etc., probably turned off a lot of non-liberals off of libertarianism in the process.
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Re: The death of liberaltarianism?
If I may comment on my own post, Nick Gillespie at Reason also responds to Carney's column saying the future of liberaltarianism is unclear, but agreeing that Obama has been horrible for it.
May '10
Re: The death of liberaltarianism?
As someone that could be accused of falling into this admittedly squishy category, I have always found true conservatives more willing to welcome me in (and perhaps pray for me) than liberals willing to tolerate my anti-government bias. The left is far less tolerant of heresy than the right.
Jul '10
Re: The death of liberaltarianism?
As a life-long libertarian, I have never, ever perceived any common ground whatsoever between libertarians and liberals.
Jun '10
Re: The death of liberaltarianism?
As a more traditional conservative, here's what I see as fundamentally flawed in the idea of liberalatarianism: left/liberals certainly oppose the traditional social conservative agenda (pro-life, anti-drug, the idea that religion strengthens a society), but are absolutely undying in their belief that big government led by the self-anointed ruling elite will carry us all to some utopian promised land. This idea (that man and society is perfectible in the hands of the enlightened elite) trumps all other ideas for the left/liberal and will always spell the death of efforts to somehow marry John Rawls and Friedrich Hayek or to place Obama and Milton Friedman in the same tent.
Edited on Aug 26, 2010 at 10:41amJul '10
Re: The death of liberaltarianism?
tabula rasa: As a more traditional conservative, here's what I see as fundamentally flawed in the idea of liberalatarianism: left/liberals certainly oppose the traditional social conservative agenda (pro-life, anti-drug, the idea that religion strengthens a society), but are absolutely undying in their belief that big government led by the self-anointed ruling elite will carry us all to some utopian promised land. This idea (that man and society is perfectible in the hands of the enlightened elite) trumps all other ideas for the left/liberal and will always spell the death of efforts to somehow marry John Rawls and Friedrich Hayek or to place Obama and Milton Friedman in the same tent. · Aug 26 at 10:40am
Edited on Aug 26 at 10:41 am
I kinda like the image of Friedrich Hayek as a blushing bride.
Jun '10
Re: The death of liberaltarianism?
Kenneth
I kinda like the image of Friedrich Hayek as a blushing bride. · Aug 26 at 11:07am
Me too. But I just can't see John Rawls as the groom.
Jul '10
Re: The death of liberaltarianism?
tabula rasa
Kenneth
I kinda like the image of Friedrich Hayek as a blushing bride. · Aug 26 at 11:07am
Me too. But I just can't see John Rawls as the groom. · Aug 26 at 11:48am
Maybe Ken Mehlman?
Re: The death of liberaltarianism?
I would argue actually that there is quite a significant segment of the left-leaning population who would rather vote to stop the conservative social agenda than vote to promote big government programs. At the moment, those two go hand in hand, but if a candidate were willing to separate them, I'd be very interested to see what would happen...
Jul '10
Re: The death of liberaltarianism?
Brilliant. Social cons have been alienating independents for decades.
Edited on Aug 26, 2010 at 1:19pmRe: The death of liberaltarianism?
Kenneth
Brilliant. Social cons have been alienating independents for decades. · Aug 26 at 1:17pm
Edited on Aug 26 at 01:19 pm
Without challenging or accepting that contention, Kenneth, I'll add that social conservatives haven't a whole lot to show for their strenuous efforts to move the cultural needle by political means. Sometimes that's because of judges ex machina, but the prevailing factor, I think, is something else.
Aug '10
Re: The death of liberaltarianism?
On the topic of Brink Lindsey, I saw a video that Instapundit linked to over at Reason.TV that had a panel discussion between Brink Lindsey, Jonah Goldberg, and Matthew Kibbe on where libertarians belong. For anyone interested: http://reason.tv/video/show/where-do-libertarians-belong-p
I don't find Mr. Lindsey's arguments very persuasive and quite contemptuous of movements like the Tea Parties, but then again I don't consider myself a libertarian.
Aug '10
Re: The death of liberaltarianism?
The reason liberaltarianism is an oxymoron is an issue of First Principles.
For the libertarian Liberty and freedom from government limitations on Liberty is the driving principle. There are a number of philosophers from whom libertarians derive their reasoning, but one thing stands and that is that Liberty is paramount.
For the American conservative the first principle is the "conservation of American traditions." These traditions include the institutions created by the same philosophers who defined and elaborated the principles of libertarianism. These traditions also include social mores and cultural institutions that pre-date the Enlightenment and a good deal of classical liberal thought. This leaves the American conservative with conflicting goals. They seek to defend the institutions created by classical liberal thinkers, but not always the principles themselves. They seek to conserve institutions and social/cultural norms. So they can be for economic freedom and against personal freedoms when those freedoms come into conflict with Tradition. Though it should be noted that Tradition itself changes with time, and what norms are defended change as well.
With liberals, there first principles are equality and fairness. These often come into conflict with Liberty, which de facto often requires inequality and unfairness.
Jul '10
Re: The death of liberaltarianism?
James Poulos, Ed.
Kenneth
Brilliant. Social cons have been alienating independents for decades. · Aug 26 at 1:17pm
Edited on Aug 26 at 01:19 pm
Without challenging or accepting that contention, Kenneth, I'll add that social conservatives haven't a whole lot to show for their strenuous efforts to move the cultural needle by political means. Sometimes that's because of judges ex machina, but the prevailing factor, I think, is something else. · Aug 26 at 1:26pm
Quite right. The "prevailing factor" is culture. As Antonio Gramsci revealed.
May '10
Re: The death of liberaltarianism?
I have crossed CATO completely off my list of organizations I pay any attention to whatever. To start with, Jerry Taylor keeps showing up with silly commentaries on energy, then Lindsey and his crew, finally, David Boaz was on The Dennis Miller Show and seriously promoted Truther nonsense. Clearly these people- except for Pat Michaels, who is driven totally by pure honest science- have gone completely around the bend.
Ayn Rand is fine as a theoretical idealist, but we live in a real world. Medved's description rings truer every day.
May '10
Re: The death of liberaltarianism?
Great food for thought, Nathaniel.
Foreign policy is where conservatives and libertarians seem to diverge the most.
Liberals and libertarians occasionally agree on ends, but never on means. It is this difference of means that is causing so much strife in America.
May '10
Re: The death of liberaltarianism?
I'm not at all sure what this means in practical terms. What sort of massive government programs advancing the conservative social program can we close-down? What new ones can we block? I don't see any but entirely theoretical issues where libertarians and liberals can take joint action, except perhaps in control of monopolistic business practices, which is not really an element of conservative social aims.
May '10
Re: The death of liberaltarianism?
tabula rasa: ... This idea (that man and society is perfectible in the hands of the enlightened elite) trumps all other ideas for the left/liberal and will always spell the death of efforts to somehow marry John Rawls and Friedrich Hayek or to place Obama and Milton Friedman in the same tent. · Aug 26 at 10:40am
Edited on Aug 26 at 10:41 am
LOL, Obama and Milton in the same tent, Thunderdome style, with "two men enter, one man leaves".
I am guessing it won't be the (Havard Law Review) President that is the one that leaves.
Aug '10
Re: The death of liberaltarianism?
Trace, when one believes that there are no fundamental realities besides the perceived, crafted text and its manipulated context, then purging heresy is task number one. When one realizes that there is a fundamental ground of reality that projects the texts and contexts onto the screen called the Universe, one has the capacity both to act and to wait in confidence. It does not all depend on us acting as censor. Accepting the streaming pictures on the screen despite our preferences is reputed to be the quickest way to mastery and peace. Lefties are smart, and they possess a great many talents, but in this very critical, fundamental area--they are doomed in their chosen course.
Edited on Aug 28, 2010 at 9:04pmAug '10
Re: The death of liberaltarianism?
Kenneth
James Poulos, Ed.
Kenneth
Brilliant. Social cons have been alienating independents for decades. · Aug 26 at 1:17pm
Edited on Aug 26 at 01:19 pm
Without challenging or accepting that contention, Kenneth, I'll add that social conservatives haven't a whole lot to show for their strenuous efforts to move the cultural needle by political means. Sometimes that's because of judges ex machina, but the prevailing factor, I think, is something else. · Aug 26 at 1:26pm
Quite right. The "prevailing factor" is culture. As Antonio Gramsci revealed. · Aug 26 at 1:42pm
How does one "alienate" an independent? But, that aside, I will agree social conservatives have been short on the effort to creatively persuade, and all too eager to prematurely engage in vote-crafting games.
Aug '10
Re: The death of liberaltarianism?
Libertarianism is a guise for liberals who want to pose as iconoclasts or independents.
Reason magazine is more liberal than libertarian and is hard to distinguish from Mother Jones on the topic of illegal immigration. The open borders, free trade WSJ editorial page is also more liberal than libertarian on these two issues and violates Henry Hazlitt's primary rule of economics which is to look beyond the first step of any policy to the long term effect.