Community | February 14, 2013 | 13 comments

Libertarian Republicans Want More Libertarianism

source: http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2013/02/libertarian-republicans-want-more-libertarianis...

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letsliveinpeace

http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2013/02/libertarian-republicans-...

Robert Draper’s New York Times Magazine story about young libertarian Republican operators sympathetically presents their side of a long-standing ideological divide. Republican elites in Washington and among the party’s fund-raising base have always cared far more about taxes and regulation than have the party’s voting base. The protagonists of the piece present the split as generational, but I’m pretty sure that 30 years ago, Republican operators in Washington were more fired up to reduce government and less enthused about social issues than were the party voters. The youngsters also want to modernize the party's use of the Internet, which wouldn't help, but they seem to blend that into their ideological preferences, thus lending them the futuristic sheen of inevitability.

Draper quotes David Plouffe explaining that economic policy, not social issues, held together Obama’s coalition. (“It’s their economic policies and health care. The group that supported the president’s health care bill the most? Latinos.”) None of the Republicans in the story seem to engage with this at all. They obsessively decry the party’s opposition to gay marriage, a marginal issue in the campaign, while avoiding any mention of the 47 percent comments, the party’s opposition to regulating Wall Street, or the unpopular tax cuts for the rich Romney had to endorse in the primary. This quote actually reveals how misplaced their analysis is:

Did Jacobson really expect the Rick Santorums of his party to let a new generation of Republican leaders tell them what to accept and how to behave?

Okay, a couple things. First, the plural of “Santorum” is not “Santorums.” It’s “Santora.” Come on, people. Didn’t anybody take Latin?

Second, a sad little has-been in a sweater vest is not holding the Republican Party in his hands. Whose agenda defined the Mitt Romney campaign? Was it Santorum, with his immediately forgotten message of no gay marriage and manufacturing tax credits? No, it was Paul Ryan, the man who crafted the party’s economic platform and had to be placed on the ticket.

One of the young guns confesses:

“I hate all regulations, every single one of them” — including, he cheerfully admitted, minimum-wage and child-labor laws.

Yeah, go ahead and try running on a platform of that, plus support for gay marriage, in 2016. Let us know how it works out for you.

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13 comments // Libertarian Republicans Want More Libertarianism

  • warman1138
  • dugdog47
    • 0
      dugdog47  

    • Libertarianism is for people who are tired of the two wing circus that is our political system. The main idea I like is the idea of being free to live how ever you want, as long as it doesn't infringe on the liberty of others. So,,,,,,,,,I propose all left wingers and right wingers join the libertarian party. That way we could all live in peace.
      Some states would remain more left than right, while others would remain free. Don't like the laws in your state? You are free to relocate to one with laws that better fit your life. Put power back in the state's hands where it belongs.

    • 3 months ago
  • EmperorThan
    • +5
      EmperorThan  

    • Since when is Rick Santorum considered a libertarian??? So he wants to legalize drugs, legalize prostitution, legalize abortion, and legalize same sex marriage????

      If so WOW, what a turnaround, he's definitely changed his tune from what I last heard him saying.

    • 3 months ago
  • bailey78
    • +4
      bailey78  

    • Too often we walk away from Republicans thinking to ourselves, "What f*cking planet do you people live on?".

      -Climate change is a hoax
      -Guns have nothing to do with gun violence
      -Our nation is founded on Christianity ..even though the world appears no where in our Constitution
      -You can't get pregnant by rape in most instances
      -Homosexuals threaten heterosexual relationships, and our society
      -The best way to worship Jesus Christ is by hating, judging and fearing anyone different
      -Equal rights, and pay, for women are debatable
      -Women's health, and control of their bodies, is best decided by a group of men
      -Claim to hate abortions, yet: Oppose sex education and access to free contraceptives
      -Claim to be pro-life, yet support the death penalty, then brag about the frequency for which it is used within their states.
      -Claim they love our Constitution, they openly state they will defy Constitutionally upheld laws of which they disagree
      -Talk about individuals freedoms being at risk, then openly support bans on same-sex marriage
      -Say they love our country, and are true patriots, then scream secession anytime they don't get their way
      Just to name a few.

      Seriously, it's at least once a day (often more) where we just want to scream, "What the hell is wrong with you people!".

    • 3 months ago
  • MSII
  • warman1138
  • Steamed_N_More
    • +3
      Steamed_N_More  

    • Libertarianism denegrates social responsibility in favor of no holds barred competition for survival. Works well for those with abundant resources, who would govern brutally economically in a lawless limited government society. Economically and socially stifling human economic and educational advancements to those without influence. Basic anarchy for the unprotected masses would result.

    • 3 months ago
  • MSII
    • +2
      MSII  
    • Steamed_N_More:

      It's exactly that nothing but a mindless return to the "law of the jungle"! What a sad sick "society" that would be, even worse then the sad sick one we have now as it continues to degenerate further into right-wing-corporate-FASCISM.

    • 3 months ago
  • Gordon_Shumway
    • +5
      Gordon_Shumway  
    • Image

    • What do they say? Anything worth doing is worth over-doing!

      "I been Ayn Randed, nearly branded
      Communist, 'cause I'm left-handed.
      That's the hand I use, well, never mind!"

      Paul Simon - from "A Simple Desultory Philippic"

    • 3 months ago
  • MSII
  • bailey78
  • letsliveinpeace
  • bailey78

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