It's about more than voting blocks. In a 1975 interview with
Reason no less a conservative than Ronald Reagan said, "If
you analyze it I believe the very heart and soul of conservatism is
libertarianism." Now, obviously the power dynamics and
constituencies are different these days, but the truth is the more
Republicans win, the more the philosophical backbone of the party
seems to weaken under the understandable if not particularly
admirable desire to hold onto power. So libertarians may not win
Republicans elections, but it's difficult to look at the behavior
of this Congress and White House without getting the sense that we
could use a little more principled opposition in the ranks.
Right-leaning libertarians carry more worth than a simple vote.
Here's more Reagan from that interview, by
the by:
The basis of conservatism is a desire for less
government interference or less centralized authority or more
individual freedom and this is a pretty general description also of
what libertarianism is. Now, I can't say that I will agree with all
the things that the present group who call themselves Libertarians
in the sense of a party say, because I think that like in any
political movement there are shades, and there are libertarians who
are almost over at the point of wanting no government at all or
anarchy. I believe there are legitimate government functions. There
is a legitimate need in an orderly society for some government to
maintain freedom or we will have tyranny by individuals. The
strongest man on the block will run the neighborhood. We have
government to insure that we don't each one of us have to carry a
club to defend ourselves. But again, I stand on my statement that I
think that libertarianism and conservatism are travelling the same
path.
topics:
Conservatism, Libertarianism
