So You Call Yourself A Libertarian

There is a lot of discontent with the Bush Administration among so-called conservatives these days. Big deficits, big budgets, an imperialist foreign policy, and sheer incompetence have all alienated a portion of the intellectual leadership of the right.

But I'm not interested in them. I want to talk instead about those sad souls who call themselves libertarians. You know the kind I'm talking about. The people at parties who say that they don't like the religious right, that they don't like big corporations. The ones who refuse to vote for Democrats because they're "statists" in favor of "big government." They don't consider themselves Republicans, oh no, but every election they just seem to be a little more comfortable with the Republican lever.

There's a lot of superficial appeal to libertarian thought, with its focus on individualism, free markets, small government, and social tolerance. My purpose here is not to dwell on the limitations of libertarian thought (I have done so here). My aim here is far more straightforward:

Put up or shut up.

You say you're for small government. You say you're for civil liberties. Well now what do you do? This administration has chosen to ignore the Constitution, centralize power in the executive, dominate the legislature, and pack the Courts. It had decided that torture is acceptable. That the accused should have no due process. It has implied that the election of someone as President imparts toward him an infallibility that until now only Popes have claimed.

You could try to weasel out of your dilemma, I suppose. You could argue that the Democrats are worse, with their "high taxes" and "big spending." But is the budget smaller now than it was in 2000? And do you really believe that questions of taxes & budgets outweigh the Constitution? That they outweigh our freedoms?

You could say that we live in special circumstances, that the perils of the "War on Terror" mean that we must make sacrifices. In other words, you might assert that with our lives at risk, we have to make some allowances. But then what happened to your belief that we must live free or die?

Libertarians have a simple choice. They can abandon the Republican party, or they must admit that their perceived financial wellbeing and/or their desire for safety is more important than their concern for liberty. But then they don't really deserve the title "libertarian," do they? "Selfish coward" maybe. Such cowards that they can't even admit to being Republicans.

Self-described libertarians have come to a moment of decision. They can either embrace what they purport to believe, or they must admit they are simply wingnuts who refuse to wear the uniform.

What will they do?