… and I don’t mean Dallas.

If you haven’t read Brink Lindsey’s excellent column entitled Liberaltarians, I encourage you to do so now.  He offers probably the best explanation yet of why libertarian minded individuals are abandoning the GOP and turning to the Democrats.

I personally identify with libertarians on most topics.  First and foremost I believe that economic freedom and personal responsibility are essential elements of our country’s greatness.  But personal freedom is just as important.  Unfortunately, the two dominant political parties offer one each, but not both.  Historically, the GOP has encouraged free enterprise and minimal taxation in conjunction with government restraint while the Dems have sought to confiscate and redistribute.  Alternatively the GOP has sought to impose morality through legislation, while the Dems try to protect something called the Bill of Rights.  Of late the GOP has stood for none of the above and many libertarians have given up on them.

Two terms that have become terms used to define Dems are liberal and progressive.  The former has been turned into something of a four letter word by the Rush’s of the world, although I consider myself to be a classical liberal.  The term progressive should sound appealing to me - I’m a huge fan of cultural, economic, and technological progress - but, when used to describe Dems the term refers to government imposed progress through watered down socialism.  I believe that true progress can only be made through a free market system that justly rewards and punishes based on individuals’ merits.

I consider myself to be something slightly different: a permissive.  I’ve always been somewhat content with the GOP’s moral imperatives because they happen to coincide with my personal beliefs most of the time.  But I think that people should be allowed to do anything that doesn’t infringe upon the rights of another (what a concept!).  I don’t do drugs, and wouldn’t if they were legal, but I think others should be allowed to.  I choose not to kill myself slowly with cigarettes, but you should be allowed to kill yourself in whatever manner you deem acceptable.  I’m not gay, but if you are you should not be discriminated against.

I’ve already written more than I intended - an all too frequent occurrence - but I’ll close with this.  As more libertarians dip their toes in the Democrat pool I think the biggest sticking points will be commerce and entitlements.  If Dems can shake off their new found economic populism, which may force them to jettison organized labor, and agree to reform - not eliminate - entitlement programs then the Dem-libertarian union may last for a while.

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This entry was posted by Brian on Tuesday, December 19th, 2006 at 6:45 am and is filed under Politics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site. Please note the copyright policy.