printJudge Andrew Napolitano, courted by libertarians on the Right, articulates the essence of left-libertarianism, left-liberalism and neoconservatism. (The “What if?” style of writing is hard to stomach, too.)
What if liberty really is attached to humanity? What if all rational people yearn for personal freedom? What if the government — in order to stay in power — has detached liberty from humanity and made it a gift of the state instead of a gift of God? What if government knows that by restricting and then expanding liberty, it can command loyalty?
Essentially, liberty has no cultural or historical or religious dimension; it’s a universal quest. Inside every Afghani or Yemeni is a Jeffersonian waiting to break free. Blame governments, not the people, for barbarism in certain parts of the world (which is what I call a form of social determinism, “the state made me do it”).
Napolitano’s position is not paleolibertarianism, but it’s a position inherent in left-libertarianism, left-liberalism and neoconservatism.