Reason Finally Has a Reason to Love Sarah Palin

Reason Magazine hasn't exactly been friendly territory for Sarah Palin, what with her pro-lifiness and all--but now the stoner libertarians will have sufficient cause to jump on the Palin bandwagon: she's all for being able to pass the dutchie in the privacy of one's home.

How bout that?

How Libertarian Are You?

Interesting quiz here called Your Libertarian Purity Test.

I scored a 23 which means "You are a soft-core libertarian. With effort, you may harden and become pure." Sounds about right to me.

H/T--The Unreligious Right

Libertarianism Under the Microscope at NRO

There's a great little back and forth going on over the past two days at the National Review Online blog "The Corner" about Libertarians.

I don't think there is a major Conservative thinker today who understands and respects Libertarians more than Jonah Goldberg does--nor is there a Conservative thinker who more neatly dissects the trouble with Libertarianism as a governing impulse. Take a look at this, and then scroll through yesterday and today to see more on this. Fascinating stuff for the two or three wonks who read this blog.

Buyers Remorse at Cato?

I've written here before about my affinity for The Cato Institute, the premier libertarian think-tank in DC. I think they are intellectually honest, and they generally do a good job of helping to shape major policy debates by representing the all-important "small government/individual rights" view. Besides that, my homey Dr. C is a big wig there.

That said, I came across this little doozie on the Cato website this morning, dropped there by another big-wig, David Boaz. In it, Boaz brings our attention to yet another encroachment of big-Washington government upon our daily lives, an initiative to have the Feds provide oversight to subway systems.

I'm glad Boaz and Cato are on the beat here--but they simply don't have the standing to do so, given that Cato was an intellectual birthplace of Liberaltarianism, the fusion of liberal principles and libertarianism that rose up as a reaction to some of George Bush's policies. What I'm getting at here is while strict libertarians may have had some issues with GWB (as did strict Conservatives for that matter), did they really think they'd get anywhere in a one-night stand with modern American liberals? Did they really think that once they got in power, the left would suddenly transmogrify into a free-market, low regulation, bong-hit supporting movement (well, I suppose they are getting a little return on their investment in the Administration's treatment of medical pot)?

Libertarians need to make peace with the fact that they'll always be unhappy politically, because neither of the parties goes far enough for them, and neither of the major movements (conservatism or liberalism) aligns closely enough either. But the plain truth of the matter is that the Republican Party and the Conservative movement will always be closer to Libertarians--even when Libertarians try to make us jealous by "sleeping around".

Libertarians vs. Neo-conservatives

Maybe a little wonky for general discussion, but I am fascinated by fissures on the right--not in the way the New York Times or Rachel Maddow is, mind you, but from the standpoint of organization theory and team dynamics.

Libertarians simply can't stand neo-conservatives. Here's a taste of that view from the founder of The Cato Institute, Washington's premier Libertarian think tank. Titled "The GOP Should Dump The Neocons", the main point here is that neo-conservatism's supposed happiness with big government and foreign policy adventurism really rankles Libertarians.

On the other side, I don't find myself seeing Neo-conservatives making a big a fuss over Libertarians. I think most actually admire Libertarianism, though they have come to conclude that Libertarianism is at best an alloying ideology, not sufficient on its own as a governing instrument.

I'm inclined to think that the successful movement will blend some of neo-conservatism's sense of American exceptionalism with some of libertarianism's mistrustful view of government. There's a certain intellectual contradiction at work in libertarianism's focus on individual freedom and liberty stopping at the 12 mile line off this nation's shores--of that I am certain.