The New Libertarians?
Last week from the vantage point of Oxford, Mississippi, a libertarian friend and I watched comedian Doug Stanhope's 2008 standup special in NYC. Stanhope wore a baseball jersey with an image of the statue of liberty and the team name "Libertarian" on the front, with his own last name on the back. My friend and I laughed at most of Stanhope's irreverence. However, when I asked my friend after the show what he thought of the comic, he hesitated. Even though he laughed throughout most of the special, my friend hesitated due to a brief segment in Stanhope's routine. My friend's answer: "I can't endorse heresy."
This statement initiated an interesting conversation that has led to this post. Libertarians are originally both fiscally and socially conservative. However, the Bush administration's assault on civil liberties has caused a lot of liberals to fear big government. Due to the Democratic party's inability to offer a true alternative, many of these liberals have defected to the libertarian party. Meanwhile, a large number of socially conservative Reaganites continue to abandon Bush's party of federal expansion. In other words, the libertarian party has transformed into a political perspective where both social liberals and social conservatives can unite.
When it comes to Obama, this may explain why some libertarians call Obama the Antichrist, while others join organizations like libertariansforObama.org. Perhaps due to their lack of options, the latter group is growing:
Personally, I know a lot of Ron Paul supporters who prefer Obama to McCain, but who nonetheless refuse to vote for either. They're wedded firstly to Ron Paul, but secondly to the libertarian party. They're voting for Bob Barr because he has decided to make Bush's destruction of civil liberties the centerpiece of his campaign. They believe that Obama will win, but they want to send a message to Obama with their vote: protect our civil liberties at all costs.
As an Obama supporter, I too want to send Obama that message: protect our civil liberties at all costs. Or the libertarian party will continue to grow.
This statement initiated an interesting conversation that has led to this post. Libertarians are originally both fiscally and socially conservative. However, the Bush administration's assault on civil liberties has caused a lot of liberals to fear big government. Due to the Democratic party's inability to offer a true alternative, many of these liberals have defected to the libertarian party. Meanwhile, a large number of socially conservative Reaganites continue to abandon Bush's party of federal expansion. In other words, the libertarian party has transformed into a political perspective where both social liberals and social conservatives can unite.
When it comes to Obama, this may explain why some libertarians call Obama the Antichrist, while others join organizations like libertariansforObama.org. Perhaps due to their lack of options, the latter group is growing:
Douglas Kmiec is former chief of the Office of Legal Counsel in the Reagan and George H.W. Bush administrations, and now a constitutional law professor at Pepperdine University and a devout Catholic. Kmiec endorsed Obama earlier this year, despite his conviction that Obama "believes in a pretty progressive agenda."
Kmiec said his support deepened after meeting with Obama and other faith leaders last month, during which the busy candidate spent 2 1/2 in a freewheeling discussion with people who differed with him.
"I think he's the right person at the right time to re-establish principles of constitutional governance that have been ill treated by the current administration, and to free us from the tar paper that we know is Iraq," Kmiec said, adding that many Republicans privately agree. "I think he's a man in the market for every good idea he can find, and he doesn't care what label it comes with."
David Friedman, the son of late conservative icon and Nobel economist Milton Friedman, has also endorsed Obama. Calling McCain a "nationalist," Friedman, an economist at Santa Clara University, thinks Obama could turn out like the liberals who deregulated New Zealand's economy.
Personally, I know a lot of Ron Paul supporters who prefer Obama to McCain, but who nonetheless refuse to vote for either. They're wedded firstly to Ron Paul, but secondly to the libertarian party. They're voting for Bob Barr because he has decided to make Bush's destruction of civil liberties the centerpiece of his campaign. They believe that Obama will win, but they want to send a message to Obama with their vote: protect our civil liberties at all costs.
As an Obama supporter, I too want to send Obama that message: protect our civil liberties at all costs. Or the libertarian party will continue to grow.
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