printLast year, RT interviewed me about “Libertarianism Lite,” in anticipation of what is supposed to be libertarian officialdom’s Event of the Year, Freedom Fest.
The Kochtopus is set to convene again. With the exceptions of Tom Woods and Peter Schiff, it’s the same old guard, bedecked with a bimbo version of Penn Jillette for hip value.
The Andrew Napolitano-Koch Connection has been established. (See LewRockwekll.com.) I was never a huge fan of Freedom Watch, which, in my opinion, had that distinct CATO/Beltway, left-libertarian bent.
By way of an example, take the “War Street Journal’s” Stephen Moore, a natural star of any Kochtopus Convention. Moore was forever appearing in furtherance of freedom on Judge Napolitano’s Freedom Watch.
No wonder Moore, like Neal Boortz, is Hannity’s in-house freedom fighter too. One of Moore’s books was “Bullish on Bush: How the Ownership Society Is Making America Richer.”
“Bush’s bailout society” was an instantiation of the principles upon which “Bush’s ownership society” was founded: credit for those who are not creditworthy. But not even a full-throated support of the Bush affirmative action in housing loans amounts to an indictment among America’s incestuous (oft-libertarian) teletwits.
If you’re after some dry-as-dust, dispassionate, desiccated disquisitions on conventional aspects of the free market about which we all agree—and which Mises and Rothbard already covered better—Freedom Fest is the “happening” place for you.
My guess is that a demonstration for George Zimmerman around the corner would draw a real crowd.
UPDATE: In Reply to a thread on Facebook, written by writers who can’t tell their Left from their Right. Both of the FF speakers lauded on the thread are open-border, left libertarians, and one belongs to an outfit that honored the decidedly anti-capitalism Desmund Tutu, with whom I once took afternoon tea, as he was a friend of my father’s, before “forgetting” father’s contribution to “The Struggle.” It’s in my book; a book about the reality in the New South Africa, as opposed to the parallel reality peddled by left libertarian think tanks.
The other chap is known for his anti-Israel irrationalism, exposed in “Libertarians Who Loathe Israel” & “FOAMING AT THE MOUTH OVER ISRAEL.” Being so “intellectually honest” (NOT), this one character has practically boycotted all my work from the shrinking forums he controls, even though it jibes with his, for the most (although mine is actually fun to read). Intellectual honesty, Yeah, right.
There is a famous tale where corrupt Earl Long (then Governor of Louisiana) said “Should ethics be used in politcs? Hell YES, use anything you can get your hands on!”
So it is with the Bushian Republican coalition with any suckers they can bring in to vote for them – Christians, libertarians, farmers, stockbrokers –
it is a coalition of no particular ideology but rather lust for power.
Because supporters of freedom oppose big government (warfare or welfare), it is often considered the same as: pro-drug, pro-sex, pro-plutocrat, pro-Palestine, pro-Taliban, pro-white-Supremacist, pro-French-Fry, pro-lesbian, or whatever because supporters of freedom oppose COERCION.
The inverse is that advocates of some specific position will SELECTIVELY invoke “libertarian arguments” on behalf of their pet cause: which could be tax cuts, abortion, gay marriage, free heroin, Sharia Law… – but often, these same people will advocate coercion on most other issues. Hence the tax cutter who wants to bomb the planet and subsidize the defense industry. The pro-gay-marriage person who wants to force the Catholic Church to pay for birth control. The anti-war person who denounces Israel if they shoot back when mortars fly into Sderot….
As you have pointed out, most of the “movement” is left libertarian. Libertopia at least is anarcho-libertarian. http://www.libertopia.org