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Cool Libertarians
reasononline ^ | July 30, 2002 | By Jeremy Lott

Posted on 07/30/2002 6:46:04 PM PDT by RANDomScout

In this, my last scheduled contribution to Editor’s Links, I want to say a few nice words about libertarians – a much-maligned, funny, quarrelsome lot of people who were kind enough to foot my bills this summer.

One of the great things about laissez-faire types is that they’re not in power and – truth be told – they have no desire to be. This is seen by some as a bad thing; a sign that libertarians aren’t “serious people.” But the approach is not without its benefits.

Right- and left-wingers are tethered to partisan political movements or political parties, which can be a weights of albatross-like proportions. Advancing a party’s propaganda and interests often contorts and warps reality all out of recognizable proportion. For instance, a recent Washington Monthly review of right-wing bomb thrower Ann Coulter’s new book Slander relayed her claim that “for about twenty years now, all new ideas have bubbled up from the right wing.” The incredulous reviewer asked “All new ideas? All? Air Jordans? The Macarena? Pizza Hut's Stuffed-Crust Pizza?”

Across the aisle are odious pundits like Joe Conason who, in his Salon blog today credited “big government” with saving the Pennsylvania coal miners, reminded readers that Ted Bundy was a young Republican (only one step removed from Ralph Reed), and compared the Bush administration’s attempts to have hiring and firing flexibility in the newly created Department of Homeland Security to the anti-union “obsession[s] of totalitarian regimes and their imitators.” He justified this last charge by explaining – I am not making this up – that if Ann Coulter could be nasty then so could he.

Libertarians are sometimes damned as purists, but at least they aren’t as predictable or as boring as their sniping counterparts on the right and left. They’re also – and I say this from experience – a whole lot more fun. They lack the anti-corporate nervous tics of progressives (“Oh, I couldn’t order Dominos. Do you have any idea what kind of causes they finance?!”) and the woe is us moralistic hang-ups of conservatives (“There was sex on TV last night! We’re doomed.”).

A startlingly diverse group, the only common ground that all libertarians share is a desire to live in a society in which people are truly free – of wars, of petty government regulations, of a creeping Puritanism that holds suspect any fun activity. That might be a pipe dream, but it's one I’ve come to share.

Jeremy Lott is Reason's 2002 Burton C. Gray Memorial intern.


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Editorial; Government; Philosophy; Political Humor/Cartoons; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: conservative; liberal; libertarian; libertarians
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To: Willie Green
`Give up, tpaine. Your troll-baiting tactics are transparent.


Hey, I'll give up on you, the minute you give up on baiting libertarians. But you won't. - OCD.
241 posted on 07/31/2002 6:43:42 PM PDT by tpaine
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To: dcwusmc
sure glad I don't hafta suffer you in person... or get downwind from you, either one...

Was your tongue sticking out while you typed that? LOL

242 posted on 07/31/2002 6:46:01 PM PDT by Texasforever
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To: RANDomScout
Believe it or not, I actually like both Goldberg and Reynolds. I certainly read them a heck of a lot. I just get a little bit tired of some of their goofier statements.

There are certainly a good number of witty writers out there who don't exhibit the annoying tendencies I observed in my earlier post. Mark Steyn would be an excellent example.
243 posted on 07/31/2002 6:50:55 PM PDT by bourbon
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To: Texasforever
Hey, tex, sometimes we agree on stuff... but sometimes you do get a bit overbearing... so let's agree when we can and duke it out the rest of the time... maybe one day we can sit down for a brew together...
244 posted on 07/31/2002 6:55:46 PM PDT by dcwusmc
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To: dcwusmc
and yeah, :-P
245 posted on 07/31/2002 6:56:47 PM PDT by dcwusmc
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To: dcwusmc
and yeah, :-P***
246 posted on 07/31/2002 6:57:47 PM PDT by dcwusmc
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To: tpaine
Hey, I'll give up on you, the minute you give up on baiting libertarians. But you won't. - OCD.

Well, it'll be your meltdown, not mine.
As stated before, your troll-bait tactics are a known factor and totally transparent.
You're not a "Cool Libertarian", just another superficial troll.
And not very good at it to boot.

Arrivederci, bub.

247 posted on 07/31/2002 7:03:03 PM PDT by Willie Green
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To: Willie Green
Typical personal attack, bub.

- Thanks for the OCD display.
248 posted on 07/31/2002 7:10:36 PM PDT by tpaine
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To: tpaine
Yeah. Well at least it's apropos.
249 posted on 07/31/2002 7:33:11 PM PDT by Willie Green
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