Posted on 01/31/2006 10:22:39 AM PST by presidio9
The Gallup Poll's annual survey on government found that 27% of Americans are conservative; 24% are liberal, up sharply because the poll was taken after Katrina, which boosted support for the proposition that "government should do more to solve our country's problems." Gallup also found -- this year as in others -- that 20% are neither liberal nor conservative but libertarian, opposing the use of government either to "promote traditional values" or to "do too many things that should be left to individuals and businesses." Another 20% are "populist" (supporting government action in both areas), with 10% undefined. Libertarian support, spread across demographic groups, is strongest among well-educated voters.
So where are the libertarians in politics and the media? Since the Clinton impeachment and the Florida recount, there's been a polarization: Congressmen and TV pundits define themselves as red/blue, pro-/anti-Bush, partisan Democrat/Republican, and take rigid liberal/conservative positions on Iraq, tax cuts, Social Security reform, gay marriage, abortion. But polls tell us that Americans aren't quite so partisan.
With big-government conservatives spending money like Imelda Marcos in a shoe store, and big-government liberals supporting the Patriot Act, even pro-government populists are represented in D.C. It's the libertarian voters who are orphans. Democrats stand like a wall against tax cuts and Social Security privatization. Republicans want to ban abortion, gay marriage and "Happy Holidays." It's not just Congress -- in Virginia's recent elections, all the Democrats were tax-hikers and all the Republicans were religious rightists. What's a libertarian to do?
The worst aspect of all this is the oracles who appear on TV. You'd think they'd be thoughtful, independent. Yet they're as partisan as the pols. The typical cable show brings viewers two guests, a liberal and a conservative. You can count on conservative writers to defend everything President
(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...
I'm not surprised for a couple of reasons.
" that 20% are neither liberal nor conservative but libertarian, opposing the use of government either to "promote traditional values" or to "do too many things that should be left to individuals and businesses." Another 20% are "populist" (supporting government action in both areas), with 10% undefined. Libertarian support, spread across demographic groups, is strongest among well-educated voters."
Liberaltarians are typically atheists so they have no use for "traditional values". They are typically very SELF centered and the end product of that is being very cold hearted. Also the more education you have ... the more you will lean in this direction since you are indoctrinated with the liberal agenda.
1. Libertarians are spread out throughout the country, making it difficult to influence congressional elections. The same cannot be said of social conservatives (South and Interior West), Populists (Upper Midwest/Rustbelt), or liberals (West Coast and the Northeast). The Free State project has been a failure thus far.
2. Many people who describe themselves as "libertarian" are actually socially liberal capitalists, ie those who support gun control, gay marriage, and environmental laws. A TRUE libertarian would be against such things, being that all require coersion by the state.
3. Libertarians tend to be highly educated, and the highly educated are, and will always be, a minority in this country. Most of us are self-educated politically, but, nevertheless, do have advanced degrees.
Some libertarians would say that if the government does nothing, society will naturally gravitate towards traditional values on its own accord.
After all, families can be very useful if there is no welfare.
One other problem with libertarianism is that, by their very nature libertarians are not "joiners" or mass-movement types. Makes it very difficult to form a cohesive political movement.
Those that make statemenst like yours are "typically" ill informed and predisposed to filtering information so that it fits only their prejudices.
Are you one of those that also confuses freedom for advocacy?
One can advocate the freedom for others to drink, smoke dope, gamble, look at porn, own handguns, drive SUV's, etc without advocating the action.
Are you one of those who demand that others share your disdains and propose rules to enforce your dislikes onto others?
Typically those you make statements like yours do.
It is interesting that you equate being educated with libertarian thought and ignorance with conservative thought.
But you account for that by saying that education is liberal. Libertarians and liberals are not in the same boat.
But those really aren't my opinions as much as yours.
It gets interesting when so called Conservatives who 'hate' libertarians are confronted with the Libertarian platform on gun control, taxes, limted and reduced government.
Then they 'typically' get nasty and invent topics with which to disagree.
Sorry, I know you're the choir I'm preaching to!
BWAHAHAHAHAHA! In your dreams, Boaz. 2%, maybe, and that's on a good day.
Oh, and everyone be sure to read his latest book, Libertarianism: A Primer (Free Press, 1997).
A bit self-congratulatory, eh?
It's not just "advanced degrees," but also the type of advanced degree. I once did an informal poll among FR libertarians -- I had a bet with myself that the majority would be employed in tech-type jobs, and I was right.
My "bet" was based on my observations over the years that tech-types (me included) are all too susceptible to simplistic ideologies like libertarianism which, like most utopian ideas, starts off with an implicit "if everybody would just act this way...." The problem being, of course, that people generally don't act that way.
This way of thinking explains why the likes of Harry Browne are incapable of formulating foreign policy ideas that have no basis in reality.
"Libertarian support, spread across demographic groups, is strongest among well-educated voters."
PING!
My view on government is that it should limit itself to the preservation of individual freedom and personal liberty. That's not too far from the libertarian view that one should be free to do anything that does not infringe the liberty of others, so I guess I'm pretty close to being a libertarian.
It's true that neither of those 2 views is represented by a major American political party, or by very many media personalities (John Stossel comes to mind as a media exception).
But what's shocking is the utter contempt in which those views are held by both the Left and by so many American "conservatives" today, even on this board.
You are a libertarian?
Unlike truth that has gray areas, honesty has none.
Honesty outlives the lie, spin and deception -- It always has -- It always will.
Politics is not the solution. Politics is the problem.
Where did you ever get the idea that true libertarianism would reject gay marriage? Libertarian philosophy absolutely supports gay marriage, euthanasia, and abortion on demand.
It is very unChristian to spew lies.
Many of the anti-libertarians here on FR do not subscribe to the original intent of the 2nd Amendment. They also happen to be "Bush-bots", so they are not conservative when it comes to limited government either.
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