Ross Douthat has a characteristically thoughtful post about libertarian revisionism,
arguing that neoconservative ideas (as they were defined before
that term came to be applied mostly to advocates of a particularly
interventionist foreign policy) played a larger role in Republican
electoral successes than libertarian ones. And, acknowleding that
Ronald Reagan couldn't have been elected in 1980 running as Barry
Goldwater and George W. Bush probably couldn't have won in 2000 as
Reagan, it's a fair point. (I'm not going to get into Tanner's book
because I'll be writing about it later.)
But in correcting one false version of the right's political
history, we should be careful not to create a new one. Anti-statism
was a bigger priority of the right's in the 1980s than it is today;
it was a much bigger priority in 1994 than it was at any time since
Republicans started winning national elections. The GOP freshman
class in the House included some pretty radical government cutters
and even a handful of constitutionalists approaching Ron Paul's
level of consistency. Libertarians were probably less important
that year than religious conservatives or gun owners, but they
mattered.
Back in the 1990s, conservatives were united around the specific
policies they were fighting for even when they disagreed about the
endgame. Libertarians, social conservatives, and neoconservatives
all favored welfare reform, even though some wanted simply to
reduce illegitmacy or foster a work ethic among the underclass
while others hoped to abolish the welfare state. Charles Murray was
a big part of the debate as a welfare abolitionist; the wonks
surrounding welfare reform pioneer Tommy Thompson, by contrast,
were willing to spend more to move people from welfare to work.
The balanced budget debate was similar. Some wanted a balanced
budget for the usual Concord Coalition, Ross Perot style reasons.
Other conservatives thought it was a good opportunity to cut
government with minimal public backlash. Libertarians shouldn't
oversell their contribution to the GOP coalition -- or the
short-term political dividends of small government -- but they
shouldn't be airbrushed out of Republican history either.
topics:
Foreign Policy, Constitution, Conservatism, Neoconservatism
