This article on Reason’s blog is interesting, not merely for the article they tout by Julian Sanchez on the appeal of Howard Dean for libertarians. Count me as one libertarian (small L, I tend to vote for the Libertarian party when an election is either not close or when I don’t care about the outcome, hoping that the LP vote will be big enough to cause the two large parties to pander to me to get my vote) who reluctantly, tenatively, and not without reservation, supports Dean.
If you’re curious just who the heck these “libertarians” are and what makes them tick, there’s a good representative sample in the comments.
Libertarians run the gamut from conservatives who believe the libertarians are closest to the spirit of the old Republican party of their dreams (something of a Founder’s Intent ideal that never really existed) to former liberals who don’t like the power of the state being wielded against hippies and other cultural refuseniks. It is a fractious bunch, but core to it are a group who are not, as Julian puts it, “Republicans who smoke pot,” or even “Democrats who took an econ class”. Libertarians are different–our overriding concern is the individual, and our overriding concern for the individual is freedom.
But we have a big problem. Well, two.
Continue reading →
