Posted on 08/01/2013 9:28:50 AM PDT by Responsibility2nd
Way back in 1975, a Republican agitator named Ronald Reagan had this to say about an esoteric young movement that was roiling politics: “If you analyze it, I believe the very heart and soul of conservatism is libertarianism.”
Neither the GOP old guard nor the rowdy libertarians ever quite bought that argument.
They both lay claim to the same conservative economic philosophy. But libertarians are more isolationist and antiwar than Republican orthodoxy allows on foreign policy and more permissive on social issues.
Still, in the nearly four decades since Reagan made those comments, the two have managed — at least most of the time — to maintain an uneasy marriage of expedience.
Libertarianism once again appears to be on the rise, particularly among the young. But its alliance with the Republican establishment is fraying, as demonstrated by the increasingly personal war of words between two leading potential 2016 presidential contenders.
The sparring began last week, when New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) posited: “As a former prosecutor who was appointed by President George W. Bush on Sept. 10, 2001, I just want us to be really cautious, because this strain of libertarianism that’s going through both parties right now and making big headlines, I think, is a very dangerous thought.”
After Christie made it clear that he was referring to Rand Paul, the Senate’s leading critic of the National Security Agency and its surveillance programs, the Kentucky Republican fired back on his Twitter account: “Christie worries about the dangers of freedom. I worry about the danger of losing that freedom. Spying without warrants is unconstitutional.”
Their feud — which is being watched closely as a possible warmup round for 2016 — has continued, expanded and spilled over into other issues.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
l4l.org
Changing the LP’s platform to reflect this won’t be as hard to change as any of the GOP’s idiocy. Bigger government appears to be part of the Grand Ol’ Party now.
mccain is very libertarian in my view.
There are two questions, the other is: Is that killing unjustified?
If this question was not president then George Zimmerman would be a murderer, but it is present.
Doesn’t work for you? Or doesn’t work logically...
Because... If you think RINO’s are following the Party Platform or that they mesh up nicely with conservative ideals...
Then you are clinically insane. Might wanna get tested.
I have stood by (reading quietly) for a long time on this LJ... I am glad someone else is speaking up (finally)...
I HAD tried to make the point that this IS a CONSERVATIVE website, but it fell on deaf ears :/
Thank you for speaking out now, I hope that this picks up momentum.
(BTW, we DON’T need Libs of any nature here... but this is not my website, and the owners can do what they wish)..
Many Libertarians are pro-life. Many Libertarians don’t participate in the national party, don’t give a rip what a group who claims to represent what the the true “Libertarian” party is. The national party is about as stupid and useless as the GOPe. We’re both a little adrift and politically homeless.
The 20 and 30 somethings aren’t adopting the label of conservatism and recoil from Republicans for the most part. Conservatives will win elections and gain new demographics how?
Force? Any other options?
Myopia must be a real bummer to live with.
McCain is acting like your typical Quisling RINO who’d be happier in the DNC.
There is NOTHING he has done that is even remotely “libertarian”.
Do you disagree with the underlined portion?
You have done polling to back up what you say is true or it’s based on an analysis of posts on Free Republic?
That's part of the Secularization of the world. Most younger people aren't Churchgoing folk and they see the GOP as "Big Religion" so they go elsewhere.
Barry Goldwater warned about this.
any political theory is of course a simplification. for me, you may epitomize the Reagan “libertarian,” the one who is not interested in power and control and a believer not an athiest.
the purpose of my personal political theory helps me to predict the broad actions of libertarians who hunger for power. those like a ron paul and murray rothbard.
anyway sorry if my over simplification has given offense.
I hope you’re not expecting to torture a consistent line of thought out of that mess you replied to.
No. As for changing the plank on abortion, I will work to change it with like minded folks. I will be as successful as rank and file republicans have been at closing the border. But I can try.
My point is that after 40 years of supporting republicans and my former party, things keep getting worse. Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again while expecting different results. I am tired of tilting at windmills.
It is amazing how evasive libertarians are, the party perfectly represents libertarianism, you guys just don’t like seeing it written down in actual political positions when you are trying to sell it.
Libertarianism is pro-abortion, just as it is pro-homosexual, and pro-open borders, and all the rest of the nonsense on social issues, that is why it is ANTI-conservative.
In the case of a pregnancy, that would be if continuing the pregnancy would kill the mother. It would be the mothers choice at that point. Give up her life for her unborn child, or end the pregnancy. Right now, that would mean an abortion. As technology advances, that might mean moving the unborn child to an artificial womb to finish gestation to a point where it could then be "born".
An example of this is a friend of ours. She currently has breast cancer. She put off getting most of her treatments until after giving birth to her 5th child. She put the life of the child first, over her own. We're still waiting to see if her test results come back with some hope for her survival.
Using abortion as a means of prophylaxis is just plain evil IMO.
In the case of Zimmerman, Trayvon attacked him. Case closed. Self defense. Murder, but justifiably so.
Of course not, but it had to be said to show the level of overlap.
No, not murder. Killing, yes. Murder is different: criminal.
If all killing were murder, then the liberals are correct to call the Armed forces murderers.
i would guess no. just looking at your first statement right off the bat:
“You own your own life.”
as a conservative, i would say, God owns my life simply because He made me. where we have common ground is in the negative: we both believe that no *man* owns us or any other man. you own yourself. God exclusively owns me.
if i agreed with you, that difference alone would cause me to radically reorder my life, thought and actions.
that being said, like others who are questioning me, my analysis is of course an over simplication. you may be a Reagan style libertarian, who i have a lot of common cause with.
but in my defense, my thinking is a tool for my own understanding and of what libertarians and libertarian republicans will do and how they might attack conservatives and conservatism. i present it hoping it may shed some light on the plight of our nation.
i’m sorry though if i have given you offense.
So what is your political label for one who is against abortion, believes sexuality is not within the purview of government, and is for open borders? Since you seem to have this labeling thing down so well ...
Call me a mini-Anarchist.
Government should be so small so as to be unobtrusive.
The gays have used government force to claim themselves a protected class. You would use government for to rectify this situation how?
“It is easy to think the State has a lot of different objects — military, political, economic, and what not. But in a way things are much simpler than that. The State exists simply to promote and to protect the ordinary happiness of human beings in this life. A husband and wife chatting over a fire, a couple of friends having a game of darts in a pub, a man reading a book in his own room or digging in his own garden — that is what the State is there for. And unless they are helping to increase and prolong and protect such moments, all the laws, parliaments, armies, courts, police, economics, etc., are simply a waste of time.”
C. S. Lewis
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