Thursday, July 2, 2009

Libertarianism and the Republican Party

I strongly agree with the gist of this post....and you can see it in the principles I put out for a Republican Renaissance. For the party to grow and prosper--it should return to its roots. Not the social conservatism of the 80's, but the libertarianism of the 60's.

7 comments:

bbauer said...

In your opinion, what is a good text or source to catch up on Libertarianism?

The Conservative Wahoo said...

Anything said or written by Milton Friedman counts...he speaks (as you know) largely of economic libertarianism (aka free markets), but he's also quite eloquent on individual liberty.

Reason.com is my favorite place to go for modern libertarian thought.

The Conservative Wahoo said...

Oh, and also the CATO website in my links

CR UVa said...

I'll just note that the 1960s featured two Democratic presidents getting elected and both houses of Congress being dominated by Democrats, while the 1980s featured a Republican president and a Senate that was in his favor for the first half of the decade.

bbauer said...

I'm concerned with the backlash against the current government causing a dangerous mistrust of government in general and ultimately an erosion of democracy. When considering Libertarianism, I fear a state in which an aggregate of private choices decides that which we must all suffer in common.

The Conservative Wahoo said...

Bbauer--I think libertarianism is largely impractical as a practical governing strategy.

I think it is however, a very effective "alloying" ideology that nurtures useful "first impulses" in policymakers

The Conservative Wahoo said...

CR--I think I get your point--but do you really put Ronald Reagan in the category of the social conservative 1980's brand of conservatism that was at least at first look, triumphant?

Ronald Reagan virtually alone rescued conservatism. To his wagon were hitched two very important groups--conservative democrats and evangelicals. But these groups accreted to the nucleus that was Ronald Reagan's conservatism...which was also very similar to the libertarian conservatism of Barry Goldwater. What I'm trying to say is that the electoral success you point to were built on libertarian conservatism. The governing majority conservatives strung together was the PRODUCT of that building. It is not in and of itself "the root". I want to get to the "root".

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