Gallup Finds More Libertarians in the Electorate

Cato Institute ^ | February 10, 2016 | David Boaz

[Persephone Kore]

Indeed. I expect that Cruz will continue to court libertarian Republicans, and that most of the votes that Rand Paul would have gotten in the primaries will end up going to Cruz.

[A CA Guy]

Zero or near zero interest rates since the 90s have caused savings to dwindle and retirees to spen out all of their principle and then have to go on welfare assistance.
The government does zero to survive the interest payments on the national debt.

[Persephone Kore]

Zero or near zero interest rates since the 90s have caused savings to dwindle and retirees to spen out all of their principle and then have to go on welfare assistance.
The government does zero to survive the interest payments on the national debt.

I agree. Also to prop up the stock market, because what politician or Fed chairman wants the stock market to decline on their watch? It's bad for their careers.

In addition, more voters are net debtors than net savers, so there's a strong constituency for low interest rates.

These policies are harmful in the long term—eventually the SHTF. As you say, we're already dealing with the effects of discouraging saving (and encouraging debt), as well as suffering under the burden of burgeoning national debt. The country is fooled into thinking that debt is tolerable because interest rates are so low. And, in addition to the looming economic problems of excessive national debt, that debt supports huge spending levels, which in turn have enabled massive growth in government and government power.

[ek_hornbeck]

The pot shops are a minor point—the country may be more liberal socially but it's much more conservative and free-market-oriented economically than it used to be. Richard Nixon instituted a wage-price freeze. Can you imagine Obama doing that? The political center has moved toward free-market economics.

Good point. It's true that we've moved very far to the Left socially, but economically our "left" is on the same page that some self-proclaimed conservatives once were. Nixon was considered "right of center," Obama is by today's standards well to the left of center, and yet Obama's statist intrusions into the economy are hardly more extensive than Nixon's were (Nixon also tried to push something similar to Obamacare, incidentally). The main difference is the probably correct perception that Nixon was a misguided and flawed but patriotic man while Obama hates America. However, Obama's hatred manifests itself mostly through his support of black radicals, not through attempts to nationalize the economy. Another case in point: much of the deregulation (repeal of Glass-Steagal, etc) that Bernie Sanders rails against happened under Clinton, not under a Republican President.

For better or for worse, what this means in practice is that very few voters really are concerned about economic policy, and so instead base their allegiances on how they feel about abortion or pot shops (which of course leaves out people like myself who oppose Roe v. Wade but who think that the war on drugs, particularly the criminalization of marijuana is a stupidity on par with Prohibition).