Libertarian Party sends funeral wreath to the GOP national headquarters, mourning the death of their small government principles with the upcoming nomination of John McCain.
Where was small government the past eight years with Bush? If nothing else I'd suspect McCain to be slightly more interested in deficit reduction... oh right, forgot there's that school of thought where tax cuts don't count as spending, but as Laffer curve magic.
Keep in mind the large group of self-identified libertarians who are hawks on defense (such as Glenn Reynolds of InstaPundit) who don't count such spending as big government, or at least not in an impermissible sense. Libertarians have always thought the government does have the obligation to defend us from foreign enemies and to maintain law and order. Bush's big domestic initiative was No Child Left Behind, a largely unfunded mandate on the states.
McCain is seen as much more a threat to libertarian values mostly because of campaign finance reform.
Fair enough. Of course, you'd think people who really believed in the transformative power of markets would want out of Iraq now. After all, shouldn't notions of peace, justice, the American way (and possibly the gold standard) win out over "Islamofascism" in the marketplace of ideas without some big gov'ment boondoggle?
Rhetorical question. I know libertarianism has a broad-based intellectual pedigree. From reasonable notions to ****-throwing insanity.
But enough about Ayn Rand. People will self-identify how they want.
Where was small government the past eight years with Bush? If nothing else I'd suspect McCain to be slightly more interested in deficit reduction... oh right, forgot there's that school of thought where tax cuts don't count as spending, but as Laffer curve magic.
ReplyDeletejoe,
ReplyDeleteKeep in mind the large group of self-identified libertarians who are hawks on defense (such as Glenn Reynolds of InstaPundit) who don't count such spending as big government, or at least not in an impermissible sense. Libertarians have always thought the government does have the obligation to defend us from foreign enemies and to maintain law and order. Bush's big domestic initiative was No Child Left Behind, a largely unfunded mandate on the states.
McCain is seen as much more a threat to libertarian values mostly because of campaign finance reform.
Fair enough. Of course, you'd think people who really believed in the transformative power of markets would want out of Iraq now. After all, shouldn't notions of peace, justice, the American way (and possibly the gold standard) win out over "Islamofascism" in the marketplace of ideas without some big gov'ment boondoggle?
ReplyDeleteRhetorical question. I know libertarianism has a broad-based intellectual pedigree. From reasonable notions to ****-throwing insanity.
But enough about Ayn Rand. People will self-identify how they want.