DC Libertarians Finally Catching On
Fitting that on the day of the Iowa Caucuses, Reason magazine discovers that there is a libertarian in the race. Sure, sure, you say: Dave Weigel has been covering this Ron Paul thing from the start.
Absolutely. Wonderfully, in fact.
And Jesse Walker wrote a few pieces online too.
Yep.
But, according to this month's cover story,by Brian Doherty,
These Paulistas are what hopeful libertarians have fantasized about for decades: a disaffected but engageable mass of Americans, many of them hidden among the 45 percent or so who tend not to vote. They support an argument advanced by David Boaz of the Cato Institute and David Kirby of the America’s Future Foundation, who estimate, based on detailed polling data, that 9 to 14 percent of Americans hew to a roughly libertarian political ideology—and that this group has been shifting away from the GOP during the current Bush administration.
(Somehow I doubt David Boaz has been fantasizing about Ron Paul. Don't tell Ron Paul either, or else we might have another reason to call him Dr. No) So, if these Paulistas are a libertarian dream, why is it making the cover of the leading libertarian magazine six months after Paul made his big splash?
Normally I'm against the whole anti-cocktail-party critique of D.C. I want to be at the cocktail parties myself. They are nice. I want people who go to fancy cocktail parties to adopt my politics. I think that is one of the definitions of success. But indulge me for a moment:: it doesn't seem like D.C. libertarians were all that against the war in Iraq - at least when it counted. Ron Paul privileges fidelity to the Constitution more than, say, abortion rights. And that tamps down the enthusiasm of the Beltway set too.
There is a cultural divide in libertarianism. Reason stands for the future in which, presumably, we'll freely and capitalistically upload our brains and genitals onto a Vivendi-Murdoch server to our great pleasure and profit. Ron Paul talks about things in the past, like the Founder's vision for our country and the Constitution they wrote. How quaint!
Is the Ron Paul candidacy perfect? No. Should libertarians be falling over themselves to support him? Absolutely. In fact, his campaign has, in many respects been so poorly managed that I'm surprised it hasn't ruined his candidacy. Noteworthy also is the fact that this piece as many others did, profiled not the man, but the movement - which is more colorful than Paul himself.
Read the piece. It's better late than never. Welcome aboard Reason magazine, the beer is getting warm here. But most of us are friendly.
Michael Brendan Dougherty
in Politics
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Reader Comments (2)
That phrase is pure awesome.