February 19, 2008
Obama is not a libertarian
Okay, okay. I know that the title of this post will provoke laughter from fellow ThreeSourcers, however, wonkish liberals love to paint their candidates as the real libertarians in that they are for individual rights by ignoring issues such as economic freedom and the right to bear arms. Jeffrey Rosen is the latest to attempt to paint Obama as the libertarian.
Of course, David Weigel looks at the evidence and concludes:
Obama is a civil libertarian, except when he is not.
Dem2008 Primary
Posted by Harrison Bergeron at February 19, 2008 1:05 PM
Bending over to circus-freakish levels to be fair, this is exactly what prompted me to call myself a Prosperitarian.
Dagny referred to the Patriot Act (booo, hiss!) last week and one must concede that a Democratic president would be more diligent in protecting your right to borrow books from the government anonymously.
There is a seed crystal of liberty in there but I am happy to trade that for more effective rule of law. Keep the NYSE open and you can eavesdrop on my calls to foreigners, providing any evidence is not admissible in a domestic trial.
Libertarians pull their hair out when they hear that (though all the ones I know are bald) and inevitably start quoting Mr. Franklin. I have yet to be shown one thing in the vile Patriot Act that I cannot stomach, yet my Democrat friends (with very good hair) always tell me that they are the true friends of liberty because they will close Gitmo, repeal the patriot act -- oh, and double my taxes.
Bending over to circus-freakish levels to be fair, this is exactly what prompted me to call myself a Prosperitarian.
Dagny referred to the Patriot Act (booo, hiss!) last week and one must concede that a Democratic president would be more diligent in protecting your right to borrow books from the government anonymously.
There is a seed crystal of liberty in there but I am happy to trade that for more effective rule of law. Keep the NYSE open and you can eavesdrop on my calls to foreigners, providing any evidence is not admissible in a domestic trial.
Libertarians pull their hair out when they hear that (though all the ones I know are bald) and inevitably start quoting Mr. Franklin. I have yet to be shown one thing in the vile Patriot Act that I cannot stomach, yet my Democrat friends (with very good hair) always tell me that they are the true friends of liberty because they will close Gitmo, repeal the patriot act -- oh, and double my taxes.
Posted by: jk at February 19, 2008 1:43 PM | What do you think? [1]