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The “social aspect of libertarianism” varies widely from person to person.
On abortion they split on the extremes...but the national Libertarian party attempts a compromise that is just plain silly, and is essentially pro-abortion.
Apparently, there are actually some libertarians who are afraid Baptists will try to stop them from fornicating. It's irrational, but it exists. They also seem to think that reading long-winded Ayn Rand novels will somehow protect them from this imaginary threat. But Vegas has never been shut down during conservative Republican administrations.
Part of the problem, at least, is the fact that some liberals call themselves “libertarians”... Arlen Specter used to repeat that he was a “fiscal conservative and a social libertarian”; he was and is neither.
And lets not forget that Libertarians want all drug laws overturned so they can all get legally stoned.
It’s true. It’s in their Party Platform.
One thing libertarians are not, is politically adept.
The consistent mistake of third parties is to run for the presidency first. Instead they should run for the weakest congressional seats they can find, and build momentum to become a “tie breaking” party in Washington.
With as few as a dozen seats in the US House, the libertarian party would have enormous influence playing off the Democrats against the Republicans. In this way, the libertarians could find their core agenda addressed, and not have to compromise any of their principals.
Does anyone believe that if they applied themselves to it, the libertarians couldn’t get 12 seats out of 435 up for grabs every two years?
I have found libertarianism consistent with traditional conservative beliefs (even on social issues) in reference toward government when one is ALSO an Original Constitutionalist. The Constitution is the tie that binds libertarianism and conservatism.
Great piece, but as a self-professed libertarian, I don’t believe at all in the autonomy of business. The “autonomy” of business is how we arrived in the current sh*thole. Power corrupts, whether it be political power or business power, and a legitimate role of the government is its status as a “last resort” for the little people . . . those who lack the power to take on the leviathans who’d otherwise crush them and spit them out.
It has been my experience that some Libertarians are social liberals and some are not. Why the need to pigeon-hole?
