Posted on 10/04/2009 12:13:44 PM PDT by Josh Painter
Sarah Palin enjoys considerable support among libertarian Republicans, and many libertarian independents are giving her a second look. Adam Brickley believes that the Sarah Palin John McCain scooped up out of Alaska to be his running mate was much more libertarian than the vice presidential candidate who had to support McCain's policy positions on the stump. What we are seeing now, says Brickley, is "more of the original, pre-McCain Sarah Palin":
"A lot has been said lately about the idea that Sarah Palin is positioning herself as a the libertarian in the 2012 field... This is exactly I have been saying for months, and exactly how I have seen a potential Palin run shaping up for years (VP run or no VP run)."Will Sarah Palin be able to bring libertarians and conservatives together to start rebuilding the coaltion that Ronald Reagan led to win two successive lopsided presidential election victories?
"So – that is my view of the brave new world of “Sarahtarianism” – which is really nothing more than the classic Sarah Palin finally emerging on the national stage. We’ll see just how libertarian she can get when we see her upcoming memoir Going Rogue, but I’m guessing that she will use that book to complete the transformation we’ve all been talking about."Some libertarians are still not comfortable with Palin, largely due to a perception that she is too close to the neoconservatives, as Phil Manger observed in an op-ed that was mostly supportive of the former governor:
"She was accompanied to Hong Kong by Randy Scheunemann, a foreign policy advisor to John McCain and advisor to former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. Scheunemann was also president of the Committee for the Liberation of Iraq, an organization that beat the drums for the Iraq invasion. Palin's pre-McCain-campaign views on Iraq were not very clear, although I got the impression she was harboring some doubts. I worry that she might be taken over and 'managed' by neocons, like she was during the campaign."But it was in that same Hong Kong speech that Sarah Palin said some things which should go a long way to allay such fears, according to Allen Caeden:
"Sarah Palin deliberately took numerous swipes at neo-conservatism in her Hong Kong speech. She gave the finger to George Bush’s 'compassionate conservatism' by using the term 'common-sense conservative' to describe herself, and she flat out rejected the golden egg of neo-conservatism which is to spread democracy around the world; she stated unequivocally that this is not the job of the United States. This was two fingers held up at once; one to George Bush and the other to the neo-conservatives in the Beltway."Her exact words were:
"I am not talking about some U.S.-led 'democracy crusade.' We cannot impose our values on other counties. Nor should we seek to. But the ideas of freedom, liberty and respect for human rights are not U.S. ideas, they are much more than that."Sarah's publisher promises that in her forthcoming book Going Rogue, she will present "her vision for an America that is strong, independent, and free." Reagan conservatives and libertarians alike are waiting to see if that vision resonates in both camps. We're betting that it will.
- JP
“If you know the difference between libertarianism and anarchism, it is not evident from your posts. The rule of law is essential to libertarian philosophy. Without it there is no protection of property, no enforcement of contract. You are fighting a straw man.”
And the funny thing is, I can’t even tell who’s winning...is it the straw man or the Freeper...
Sorry but I disagree. We have a two party system and lately it is far left and center right. Real conservative candidates don’t get elected at the national level either. Reagan was the last one and that had a lot to do with Jimmuh Carter being such a moron.
Count me in on that score....
They support a government that follows the Constitution and works to protect people’s rights. An yes, there are plenty of idiots in the Libertarian camp but the Repubs have more than their fair share too.
The country is moving in the Libertarian direction. Overall they want less government, not more.
>She’s no isolationist, non-interventionist paleo.
We shall see...
“I am not talking about some U.S.-led ‘democracy crusade.’ We cannot impose our values on other counties. Nor should we seek to. But the ideas of freedom, liberty and respect for human rights are not U.S. ideas, they are much more than that.”
A witness to history, Rothbard watched National Review take the old guard out back and shoot them, one by one, for various offenses against 'respectability' and other PC hobgoblins. Being good semi-detached Marxists, at least they gave their victims show trials in the pages of NR.
Libertarian != Anarchist
Try reading Nozick's (in)famous Anarchy State and Utopia for the proofs (Nozick was a Harvard logician) that 1. anarchy is unsustainable, and 2. a minimal state maximizes individual freedom.
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