The Libertarian Moment?
Sunday’s New York Times Magazine has a feature story on the libertarian movement, suggesting it’s more popular now than ever. (h/t Political Wire)
Click here for reuse options!Libertarians, who long have relished their role as acerbic sideline critics of American political theater, now find themselves and their movement thrust into the middle of it. For decades their ideas have had serious backing financially (most prominently by the Koch brothers, one of whom, David H., ran as vice president on the 1980 Libertarian Party ticket), intellectually (by way of policy shops like the Cato Institute and C.E.I.) and in the media (through platforms like Reason and, as of last year, “The Independents”). But today, for perhaps the first time, the libertarian movement appears to have genuine political momentum on its side. An estimated 54 percent of Americans now favor extending marriage rights to gay couples. Decriminalizing marijuana has become a mainstream position, while the drive to reduce sentences for minor drug offenders has led to the wondrous spectacle of Rick Perry — the governor of Texas, where more inmates are executed than in any other state — telling a Washington audience: “You want to talk about real conservative governance? Shut prisons down. Save that money.” The appetite for foreign intervention is at low ebb, with calls by Republicans to rein in federal profligacy now increasingly extending to the once-sacrosanct military budget. And deep concern over government surveillance looms as one of the few bipartisan sentiments in Washington, which is somewhat unanticipated given that the surveiller in chief, the former constitutional-law professor Barack Obama, had been described in a 2008 Times Op-Ed by the legal commentator Jeffrey Rosen as potentially “our first president who is a civil libertarian.”
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9 responses to The Libertarian Moment?
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Eric Trommater August 7th, 2014 at 11:27
A lbertarian movement is like a union for scabs. It’s counterintutive. Also their ideas are bad and they should feel bad!
Eric Trommater August 7th, 2014 at 11:27
A lbertarian movement is like a union for scabs. It’s counterintutive. Also their ideas are bad and they should feel bad!
RioBravoHombre August 7th, 2014 at 12:24
Libertarianism is nothing but a childish fantasy. It can never be implemented, even in part, because of personal interests and plain old fashioned greed.
RioBravoHombre August 7th, 2014 at 12:24
Libertarianism is nothing but a childish fantasy. It can never be implemented, even in part, because of personal interests and plain old fashioned greed.
Herb Sarge Phelps August 7th, 2014 at 13:14
I am amazed at how many on the left buy into this hideous group. They are the FLEA Party parasites’ core and worse they are a Trojan horse that makes many think they are like us but it is a false front. Rand Paul, Ron Paul and the rest are the John Birch people along with Ted Cruz and are as far from us on the left as they could be. I wish people would see them for the phonies they are.
Herb Sarge Phelps August 7th, 2014 at 13:14
I am amazed at how many on the left buy into this hideous group. They are the FLEA Party parasites’ core and worse they are a Trojan horse that makes many think they are like us but it is a false front. Rand Paul, Ron Paul and the rest are the John Birch people along with Ted Cruz and are as far from us on the left as they could be. I wish people would see them for the phonies they are.
Abby Normal August 7th, 2014 at 15:21
One cannot be a liberal and a libertarian at the same time. Libertarians won’t hear of any kind of national healthcare. They would kill Obamacare in a heartbeat and, to them, single payer health insurance is communism. They would also kill off food stamps and any other kind of government assistance to the poor and disabled.
Abby Normal August 7th, 2014 at 15:21
One cannot be a liberal and a libertarian at the same time. Libertarians won’t hear of any kind of national healthcare. They would kill Obamacare in a heartbeat and, to them, single payer health insurance is communism. They would also kill off food stamps and any other kind of government assistance to the poor and disabled.
Rusty Shackleford August 7th, 2014 at 15:44
90% of them are in favor of strict immigration enforcement. That should be all you need to hear to know they’re full of shit. “Libertarian” has lost all meaning; it’s now just “Republican who smokes pot.”