All About Don

Thank you, rob.

I'll pick one little nit with the article. He says this:

Libertarians are emerging as a force within U.S. politics. While political leaders such as Sarah Palin and Mike Huckabee and media stars like Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh are icons to a “conservative base,” it is not yet clear what political leaders might represent these libertarian voters.

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He's got an awfully short memory, however, because only three paragraphs earlier, he said this:

In the past three years, however, libertarians have become a more visible, organized force in politics — particularly as campaigns move online. Ron Paul’s campaign demonstrated that libertarians can organize and raise large sums of money on the Internet.

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Get past the smear campaign waged by the neocon base and the mass media in the 2007 primaries, and you'll find he's the only person in DC who's been consistent in his belief in personal liberty, small government, and a non-interventionist foreign policy for decades. His nickname on the hill is "Dr. No" for good reason; he's perfectly willing to swim against the tide in matters of principle.

Paul supporters, and libertarians in general, I think, expect nothing less from any politician they support; it's going to be a tough sell for any incumbent, and new faces will be vetted more carefully than in the past. Shiny white teeth, good hair and clever soundbites with a background of politics as usual aren't going to cut it anymore.


(As an aside: IMO, Paul's biggest weakness is that his religion and age, unfortunately, blind him to the parallels between the pro-life and anti-drug issues. I don't like his argument that Roe v. Wade should be an issue decided by the states; the SC's compromise is the best that can be expected between civil liberties on the one hand and the question of when life begins on the other, while avoiding the very real social problems that arise when flatly prohibiting any good or service.)

Does anyone remember the quote from Pulp Fiction when Harvey Kitel reminds John Travolta and Samuel Jackson that they shouldn't start " " " " " " each other's " " " Just yet...


After reading your posts to each other,,,,, that scene just popped into my head.....

I'd love to see a libertarian gain popularity on t.v. or radio. The lefties and righties are pretty sufficiently represented. I don't mean Ron Paul though...he has duties to fulfill other than spreading a message.

Any suggestions Don?

Don Allen said:

Does anyone remember the quote from Pulp Fiction when Harvey Kitel reminds John Travolta and Samuel Jackson that they shouldn't start " " " " " " each other's " " " Just yet...


After reading your posts to each other,,,,, that scene just popped into my head.....

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quit pretending you don't carry that mental image around anyway...

Yeah, I like Ron Paul. It seems like libertarianism has become a bad word that the uninformed, or those with an agenda, will equate to Somalia or Afghanistan or wherever as a flimsy prop to their own ideologies.

And some seem to get non-interventionism and protectionism mixed up. That irritates me almost as much as the word theft of liberalism.

It's sad really, and a major shortcoming of our political system. I think there's a lot of people that are socially liberal and fiscally conservative, but don't have any mainstream political body that accurately reflects their beliefs.

robeiae said:

So, who's in charge of these peeps?


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Lyndon LaRouche, der.

robeiae said:

But weren't they big George Bush supporters? How can the claim to be fiscally conservative?

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Exponential government growth wasn't seen as such a huge problem until the exponent was increased in the last year of the Bush administration. And even before then, one could cynically say many Bush supporters thought whatever Bush was spending was 'necessary.'

I'm sure a lot of these people are "fiscally conservative" only in relation to someone who spends his last dollar on a candy bar and then can't buy the gas to get home. This is my impression of those in Congress.

For my second post in this thread, I'd like to discuss this statement.

These voters are neither populist nor conservative. But many may be libertarian — fiscally conservative but socially liberal or tolerant.

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This definition of libertarian is sufficient for political purposes, yet I know a lot of people on the board who meet that definition but don't call themselves libertarian.

Let me grossly over-simplify things.

The popular portrayal of a libertarian is as an anarchist. We'll get back to that one later. There's a spectrum between freedom and control, like the one between liberal and conservative. If the liberal-conservative spectrum doesn't fit you because you're fiscally conservative and socially liberal, I have an explanation.

To avoid confusion with the left-right spectrum, think of libertarian at the top, and statist at the bottom. "Pure" libertarians advocate maximum personal liberty. "Pure" statists believe that everything should be under the control of the political machine. Dictators are, by definition, statists, and may be either far left or far right on the conventional left-right scale.

As you move up the spectrum, you're moving toward libertarianism. You're saying that the individual should have more freedom to make their own choices, and the state should have less.

On this spectrum, if you think government is doing just about the right amount of stuff today, you're a moderate. If you think it should control even more aspects of your life, you're a statist. If you think government already has more control than it should, you're a libertarian.

I just found a new version of the 10-question Nolan Chart quiz, which helps place yourself on that spectrum. The older, simpler version is here.

Gretad08 said:

I'd love to see a libertarian gain popularity on t.v. or radio. The lefties and righties are pretty sufficiently represented. I don't mean Ron Paul though...he has duties to fulfill other than spreading a message.

Any suggestions Don?

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Ron Paul's 2007 campaign was all about spreading the message. He knew the odds going in, but he saw a tremendous educational opportunity, and he took it. The investment obviously paid off. No heir apparents on the scene, really; big media outlets have carved a comfortable niche in the status quo, and they don't go out of the way grooming people who'll stand up and give a Howard Beale speech.

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There are a few, though. Drew Carey has done some good stuff for Reason.TV. Penn & Teller's Showtime series "Bullshit!" is great libertarian TV. John Stossel has done some good stuff, but I haven't seen his new show yet. I don't watch much tube, but I've heard some good things about a show called Freedom Watch on (shudder) Fox. I'll think on this one a bit more.

robeiae said:

I hate those Nolan quizes, Don. There's absolutely no nuance to the questions and ideas are linked in the answers that don't have to be linked, at all.

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Did you try the new one? It allows for a bit more nuance. Don't fight it; relax into the experience. Don't nitpick.

ETA: Wanna write a better one? Might be a fun group project.

Oh, I love Bullshit!

Its biased, but at least they're honest about being biased. Also, Pen and Teller are kind of exactly what I am in terms of skeptical optimists, which is nice. Also, they made fun of Jack Thompson!

Liberal Libertarian I am!

You know, things are going to get even more confusing when we need to add another axis for "posthuman" and "traditional biological" to our graph.

rob, the two-dimensional left-right paradigm is even worse, but it gets widespread use. We use the tools we have.

Zoombie, maybe that's the fourth axis rob was talking about.

I'll get to work on the graph.

William Haskins said:

quit pretending you don't carry that mental image around anyway...

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...Yeah, well.....

Gretad08 said:

I'd love to see a libertarian gain popularity on t.v. or radio. The lefties and righties are pretty sufficiently represented. I don't mean Ron Paul though...he has duties to fulfill other than spreading a message.

Any suggestions Don?

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Here's one for you - John Stossel is very libertarian:

John Stossel joined FOX Business and FOX News in October 2009. His show, Stossel, airs on the Fox Business Network on Thursdays at 8pm & 12 midnight ET, Saturdays at 7 PM and 11 PM, and Sundays at 10 PM.

OK, I took the Nolan Test, and came out a centrist liberal. However, for several questions, I did not like any of the answers, so I have to agree with Rob about that.

But, on the other hand, that is pretty representative of the kinds of candidates I prefer to vote for.

You can find Drew Carey's 26 episodes for Reason.TV here. After the page loads, click the "Drew Carey Project" link and it will load them as the Featured Video blog.

There's another project called Reason Saves Cleveland that features Drew Carey in a six-part series suggesting libertarian solutions to Cleveland's problems. Being Drew's home town, he has a few comments to make along the way.