David Brat, the Libertarian Who Beat Eric Cantor, Doesn't Believe in the "Common" Good

Mother Jones ^ | June 11, 2014 | Molly Redden and David Corn

[silverleaf]

and so it begins

the democrats are going to “Cuccinelli” this good man and run ads showing women barefoot and pregnant and starving seniors and schoolchildren

[Cletus.D.Yokel]

:: what he has to say “exporting democracy” ::

The proper “progressive” view would reference “exporting liberty”.
That said, yes, I’d like to read or hear Brat’s views regarding the Monroe Doctrine.

[driftless2]

It would be interesting to have a cordial talk with Corn...if that is possible. He always seems to show up with articles about the latest conservative threat to the establishment of a Soviet America. It must be awful for a leftist like Corn to live in such an terrible, capitalist country like the U.S. (snicker)

[rlmorel]

They probably think the Common Good and The Tragedy of the Commons are the same thing.

[ConservativeDude]

all of us look like libertarians from time to time...just sort of depends on the context of the issue we are discussing at the moment.

this is good news....looks like he is a serious, educated, thoughtful conservative!!!!

[Daveinyork]

Any resemblance between Mother Jones and the truth is pure coincidence.

[NorthMountain]

Wow.

Very persuasive piece, here. It strongly affected my view of this election.

So much so, that I just made a monetary donation to the David Brat campaign.

Thanks, Ma Jones, ya communistic @%&#!!!

[wideawake]

He sounds like a professor of economics who actually understands economics.

Mother Jones should be confused and enraged.

[EricT.]

I wouldn't be so sure. Brat has written economic papers promoting Ayn Rand, has done research on behalf of the Cato Institute, and Reason Magazine is claiming Brat as one of their own (albeit while opposing Brat's defense and immigration views).

Brat's strong anti-Big Business views are why many choose to call him libertarian rather than a traditional conservative. It is probably more accurate to call Brat a paleoconservative.

All of which means he's probably exactly the kind of Representative we need in the District of Corruption.

[MosesKnows]

Doesn't Believe in the "Common" Good

While it is informative to know what someone doesn't believe it is perhaps more important to know what they do believe.

In this case, Brat believes first in the Constitution. From that, you can readily see the difficulty for supporters to believe in unconstitutional legislation.

Unfortunately, the Constitution does not impress people who seem bent on exchanging freedoms for their perceived notion of security.

I believe these people fear freedom because they fear the responsibility that comes with freedom. One reason is that the centrally planned public school system failed to teach them how to think and instead concentrated on teaching them what to think.

[Chewbarkah]

Stunning that Mother Jones thinks they were criticizing Brat.

[NYRepublican72]

I don’t pretend to know the statistics, but I know with SSDI, you can delay taking your SS so that you’ll get more of a benefit in the long run.

I think SSDI has been used of late when unemployment runs out in this terrible Obama economy.

[luvbach1]

He appears to endorse slashing Social Security payouts to seniors by two-thirds.

This is not "gravy" to many seniors. It's the bulk of their income. And unlike other "entitlements," they did make contributions to it; albeit, they were squandered by the government and not reserved for SS. But a 2/3 cut is not feasible.

[ops33]

I agree. I should send Mother Jones an email thanking them for such a good description of Mr. Brat.

[Gaffer]

You get these ‘statements’ from SSA. They detail estimates of your ‘contributions’ over the years and whether you have enough qualifying quarters to get SSA payments.

They tell you what you get at full retirement, and at 62 (which is 3/4ths of that), and they tell you what you get if you become disabled. It is, for me, more than the full retirement age benefit. I don’t get that, but that’s what the ‘statements’ have always said.

The kicker is you can get these max disability payouts for decades before you reach the full retirement age. It is a powerful temptation for fraud.

[riverdawg]

The good news is that Brat's district is solidly conservative as a result of recent gerrymandering to create a “safer” district for Cantor. And the Dems were so unenthusiastic about running against the presumptive nominee, Cantor, that they almost failed to put forward a candidate to run against him. In any case, the tactics used statewide against Cuccinelli won't find as receptive an audience in VA 7.

[plain talk]

I call BS on charge he wants to slash SS payouts to seniors by 2/3. No politician would propose that nor should they. It should be privatized going forward and existing benefits levels maintained for the people that played by the rules and paid in.

[GraceG]

[ Wow.

Very persuasive piece, here. It strongly affected my view of this election.

So much so, that I just made a monetary donation to the David Brat campaign.

Thanks, Ma Jones, ya communistic @%&#!!! ]

You should tell mother Jones that before their article that you believed the Eric Cantor ads calling Brat a Liberal, but thanks to the Mother Jones article you will vote for him in the Main election.

You know, just to rub some more salt into their wounds...

[Clemenza]

The zealous emphasis on “the common good” is one of many reasons I left the Catholic Church.

[Lurker]

There is no such thing as “common good”.