Over at Reason (courtesy of Transterrestrial) is an interesting discussion on the relation of each party with the libertarians who are presumably in the center. I agree with Jonah and Rand: there are huge fundamental differences in political philosophy between liberals and libertarians that (should) make any clear-minded individual realize that the left is pretty much the libertarian’s natural enemy. Libertarians certainly have reason to gripe about the Republican party, it is, after all, a huge political tent that encompasses individuals such as Bush and McCain who are NOT free marketers, but at least there is a core group of economic libertarians within the group – not to mention social conservatives who, while they may disagree with libertarian social agendas, agree that it should not be decided by the national government.
What about the supposed civil liberties that libertarians and liberals have in common? As one commenter puts it,
The value that the Left places on civil liberties and freedom is forever etched in my mind by the photos of Waco burning and Elian Gonzalez being seized at gunpoint by jackbooted thugs of Janet Reno.
I recall also that those vaunted respecters of liberty and freedomlead by FDR placed the Japanese in concentration camps after first separting them from their worldly goods.
Try as I might I try to recall how my civil liberties were violated by Bush but I can’t remember how. Oh yeah thats right he unleashed the Cossacks on the peace marchers, and put Bill Ayers in a gulag, and had the NY Times shut down for publishing classified documents.
Yeah the Left is a superb guardian of our rights. Their respect for the law is on display every day. The names Daschle, Reid, Obama come to mind.
Yeah, not to mention the fairness doctrine, and the war on any display of religion in public. And as another commentor points out, Bush made no serious attempt to ban abortion during his 8 years. I’ll add that even if Republicans had tried to overturn Roe v. Wade, that in itself is a libertarian action, as it would revert control of abortion legislation to the states, rather than the Federal government.
