Replies

Conservatism without libertarianism is fascism. Libertarianism without conservatism is anarchy.

Every American should be jealous of their liberties, liberty should once again be the "civic religion". We are in the shape we are in because we have lost that fervent desire to protect liberty and instead seek security. We should always seek to keep our government in chains as the founders implored us to do. We should not let our "law and order" gene overpower our liberty gene.

At the same time there can be NO liberty in the midst of anarchy. Hard core libertarians want free travel without border restrictions. Liberty cannot exist when there is no border between the lovers of liberty and a world that doesn't know what that is. Hard core libertarians want no drug laws, ignoring that drugs do have a dilatory effect on society and that a nation of crank injectors cannot concentrate on or defend liberty very well. Hard core libertarians certainly do not want the United States to be de-Saddamizing the world, however liberty cannot exist when you are lying in bed with the smallpox or trying to cough the anthrax toxins out of your lungs. Part of having liberty is having a stable society where liberty can flourish. Libertarians seem to ignore this aspect sometimes.

On the other side my favorite Supreme Court Justice Scalia let his law and order gene tell him that its okay to seize people's property without proving anything because it serves a social goal of the war on drugs. Its okay to seize the wifes car because her husband did wrong. Even a great mind and great man like Scalia can find a "penumbra" or "permutation" or two in the Constitution to achieve a social goal. Without the overarching principle of individual liberty, conservatives can hand over power to the state for social goals just as readily as liberals do.

This fight between libertarianism and conservatism is a false one. Its like asking "Which makes the best bread, flour or eggs?" Conservatives have not tossed aside liberty like the liberals have done. Thats why our libertarian friends flock here and not DU. We ought to welcome them and save the differences between us until the real problem philosophy is in third place. Libertarians have a lot to learn from conservatives and conservatives could stand to step back and think of individual liberty before defending a position.