The American Spectator

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Taking Libertarians

11.1.04 @ 12:01AM

STATE YOUR PURPOSES
Re: John Tabin's The Libertarian Menace:

Funny thing happened in my turn at the voting booth -- I voted Libertarian (with an "l"). I also voted Bush on the big "R." But the oddest thing I noticed this time was the lack of Democrat challengers in many of the local races here in North Texas. A state supposedly thick with 'em. Not being one enamored with a lot of the local political shenanigans around here, I voted for the local Libertarian candidates as a protest vote. I could do no worse.

Personally I wish we could all vote "no confidence" on the ballot if we think none of the candidates are worthy and force a new slate and special election. It has to be the best protest vote of all. It would have prevented the likes of David Dukes from winning. It would also force incumbents to run against their own record. If "no confidence" wins a plurality of the vote; incumbent and your challenger are outta here!

To the Libertarians, I think they have some things to offer. Sure their planks on aspects of defense and security need modification. But go read some of the party pronouncements of the major parties in the past and they had some positions just as absurd. But the Libertarians need to concentrate more on the local and state races. Win a governorship or two and get a track record built up in the next two or three election cycles. Given a little pluck and change in positions nationally they could be the party that replaces the Democrats. The Dems are ripe for the plucking at the local and state level.
-- John McGinnis
Arlington, Texas

I just read your online article on Libertarians at The American Spectator. I enjoyed it immensely. I am 34 and used to think that I was a Libertarian although I never voted for anyone in their Party. However, as I learned more about them, the further I distanced myself from them ideologically. Interestingly enough, probably the best essay ever written about them was done by Leonard Peikoff -- a follower of Ayn Rand. He wrote the essay, "Libertarianism: The Perversion of Liberty." I say, "Interestingly enough" because although Ayn Rand and her followers are considered "right-wingers," they are pro-abortion and atheists -- much like Libertarians -- go figure. Thanks for the great article.
-- Edward Dentzel
Las Vegas, Nevada

In the past I have split my vote between Republicans and Libertarian since I respected a lot of their views and I really hated the RINOs. I tended to vote for them at the lower office levels to at least help them at the grass roots level. Not this time, however. Their leadership seems to have no concept of war and what it takes to win it. They don't understand how dangerous Kerry is and could become. I voted straight Republican party ticket during early voting. I have the feeling that a lot of people have lost sympathy with the Libertarians because things are too serious to throw away any vote that would keep Kerry out and Bush in. The left wing of the Democratic party must be destroyed politically.
-- Douglas Chandler
Dallas, Texas

John Tabin mocks Libertarians for espousing non-interventionism. He also says that former Libertarian presidential candidate Harry Browne and the Libertarian Party are "non-traditional" regarding foreign affairs.

I fail to see how subscribing to a Jeffersonian foreign policy of "peace, commerce, and honest friendship with all nations, entangling alliances with none" is "non-traditional." Nor do I see what's "non-traditional" about agreeing with John Quincy Adams that America shouldn't go abroad "in search of monsters to destroy."

Why was it acceptable to warn before 9/11 that a reckless U.S. foreign policy would inevitably cause retaliation, but it's not acceptable to point to that reckless policy after 9/11? Libertarians such as Harry Browne should be applauded for publicly trying to avert another tragedy no matter what the personal costs -- instead of encouraging one by supporting new foreign blunders.

Finally, Tabin says that "there's nothing inherently libertarian" about a nonviolent foreign policy. Wrong. As Randolph Bourne said, "War is the health of the State." And a strong, healthy State is never one that's respectful of individual freedom.
-- Jonathan Trager
Washington, D.C.

John Tabin replies:
The Libertarian Party's fantasy of a foreign policy that stops at the edge of the beach would be alien to John Quincy Adams, who as Secretary of State authored the Monroe Doctrine, and even to Thomas Jefferson, who sent the U.S. Navy to the Mediterranean to fight the Tripolitan War against the Barbary pirate states. (Harry Browne has written, in reference to the War of 1812, that the government had no business in defending American ships during this period because "private companies had chosen to send those ships into foreign waters, and were responsible for the safety of their employees.")

As Mr. Trager has in the past pondered how to correct the LP's "marketing problem," might I suggest that taming the impulse to denounce any deviation from a radical orthodoxy as unlibertarian would be a good place to start?

FROM BAD TO WORSE
Re: George Neumayr's Keller Makes Things Worse:

What a bunch of two-faced political flacks masquerading as journalists.

In late May, the New York Times published a mea culpa, in which it apologized for some of its reporting on WMDs in Iraq. It said its reporting was "not as rigorous as it should have been." It began a July editorial, "Over the last few months, this page has repeatedly demanded that President Bush acknowledge the mistakes his administration made when it came to the war in Iraq, particularly its role in misleading the American people about Saddam Hussein's weapons of mass destruction and links with Al Qaeda…"

Letter to the Editor

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Foreign Policy, Trade, Mainstream Media, Business, Abortion, Constitution, Military, Iraq, NATO, Libertarianism