You would have been forgiven for experiencing some ideological whiplash earlier this month when, after listening to two days of speeches emphasizing the profound threat that rights for gay people, legal abortion, and the freedom of religion pose to our society, the attendees of the far-right Values Voter Summit handed a resounding straw poll victory to self-proclaimed libertarian Ron Paul.
Paul's particular brand of libertarianism has taken hold in the imagination of the Tea Party, allowing its leaders and activists to claim a patriotic devotion to absolute freedom while simultaneously supporting policies that curtail the freedom of women, gay people, and religious minorities.
Who wants to be called a Right-Winger, Neocon or a Neanderthal these days? Welcome to Cafeteria Libertarianism.
"Libertarianism" has become the new code word to cover all that conservative Republican politicians love. They love to invoke a libertarian philosophy when they cut taxes for corporations and the rich, rail against health care reform, take the ax to the social safety net, deregulate Wall Street and block clean elections laws. It's about freedom, they say. Come on, let's get the government off of our backs!
The trouble is, the current GOP's newfound embrace of libertarianism is a hoax. What today's GOP practices is what I call "cafeteria libertarianism": picking some freedoms to champion and others to actively work against. It's an attempt to make the same old policies sound more palatable by twisting a much misunderstood ideology -- with a uniquely marketable name -- to help make the sale.
Take California Rep. David Dreier who is anti-choice and ironically, to say the least, anti-gay. When asked by a local news station this summer how he could appeal to Tea Party voters, Dreier responded, "I describe myself as a small-'l', libertarian-leaning Republican. I want less government and lower taxes. I believe in a free economy, limited government, a strong defense and personal freedom, that's why I'm a Republican." Dreier's supposed embrace of libertarianism came as a surprise to those of us who have been following his life and politics for years. But Dreier's not snacking alone at the Libertarian cafeteria -- "libertarianism" has become a code word for GOP politicians hoping to appeal to Tea Party voters and corporate funders without the rest of the country taking notice.
When Republican politicians call themselves libertarians they, with very few exceptions, mean they want a small government when it comes to corporate accountability and a big government when it comes to people's private lives. They don't want Congress to regulate mine safety, but they do want to penalize small businesses that offer abortion coverage for employees. They don't want to get in the way of Wall Street bankers fleecing consumers, but they'll spend endless resources throwing up any and all possible barriers to gay people who want to marry whom they love.
It's this cafeteria libertarianism, actively pushed by the corporate Right and wholeheartedly embraced by the Tea Party, that has allowed Congress and state legislatures to launch an all-out assault on corporate regulation, workers' rights, and campaign finance restrictions -- all while simultaneously conducting an energetic campaign to intervene in women's health care, throw up bureaucratic hurdles to the right to vote, harangue practitioners of religions they don't like and decide who can and cannot get married. Of course you need some powerful intellectual trickery to pull this off -- how else can you say that you're all for states' rights and at the same time support amending the Constitution to prohibit states to define marriage?
The expert at this kind of trickery is libertarian poster boy and perennial presidential candidate Ron Paul, who enjoys an admiring following in the Tea Party movement and among some liberals who like some of the items that Paul has selected from the libertarian menu. Paul, despite his reputation as a hard-line maverick, picks and chooses the liberties he supports just as much as the rest of the GOP: sure, he famously defied his party to oppose the PATRIOT Act and the War on Drugs, but he also called Roe v. Wade a "big mistake" and supports the federal "Defense of Marriage Act." And he's far from alone: the oxymoronic anti-choice, anti-gay libertarians are now legion.
Paul has also ably demonstrated why the GOP's actual libertarian beliefs are misguided at best and dangerous at worst: when Hurricane Irene hit the east coast this summer, taking dozens of lives and causing billions of dollars in damage, Paul reacted by calling for the end of FEMA and saying disasters should be dealt with "like 1900." 1900, of course, was the year of the infamous Galveston hurricane, the deadliest natural disaster in U.S. history. And at a Republican debate this summer, Paul was met with cheers from the crowd when he said that an uninsured man suffering a life threatening illness is an example of "what freedom is all about." This is the new standard of freedom?
True liberty is the freedom to live our lives the fullest, care for our families in comfort and make our own decisions about life's fundamental personal issues. That's something we can't do if our government isn't there to ensure public safety, a healthy environment and a basic safety net when things go wrong... or if our government is dedicated to meddling in our personal lives.
Let's all agree that we love liberty. But the pick-and-choose liberty and libertarianism that Tea Party Republicans espouse is not only intellectually dishonest, it's monumentally bad for America.
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""libertarÂianism" has become a code word for GOP politicianÂs hoping to appeal to Tea Party voters and corporate funders without the rest of the country taking notice."
If this is the case, why don't corporatioÂns fund Ron Paul? Sorry, but libertariaÂns hate the corporate-Âgovernment relationshÂip as much one possibly could. Trying to claim otherwise is completely misunderstÂanding the philosophyÂ.
Trying to equate Paul's values with those of mainstream neo-cons is absurd. They are flailing about grasping at straw mans in a desperate hope to confuse the independents (who support Paul more than Obama).
The same candidates value a mine owner's right to do whatever they want in terms of safety conditions more than a miner's right to not get blown up at the mine.
So yes. It's oxymoronic.
Well, why don't you try to educate this person instead of merely criticizing him?
What a ridiculous, ignorant statement.
It's hardly extremist to want the same government-sanctioned relationship contract/acknowledgment when you pay the same taxes as everyone else.
It's really quite simple. All my friends can and do marry the person they love. I should have the same right.
Simple.
And yes, libertarian Clint Eastwood agrees. ;)
As for abortion...
I am pro-choice, though I don't quite know if I could have an abortion if I myself was a woman. I don't know, since I will never be in those shoes. But I don't think it's my right to control a woman's body while she hosts the non-thinking and non-feeling entity you call "a baby."
HR 3 Y Bill Passed - House
(251 - 175)
02/18/2011 Prohibiting Use of Federal Funds For Planned Parenthood
H Amdt 95 Y Amendment Adopted - House
(240 - 185)
11/07/2009 Prohibiting Federally Funded Abortion Services
H Amdt 509 Y Amendment Adopted - House
(240 - 194)
12/21/2010 FDA Food Safety Modernization Act
HR 2751 N Concurrence Vote Passed - House
(215 - 144)
Looks like a crappy voting record to me. Yes on antiabortion. No on food regualtion. Yes on the delay of cement manufacturers epa regulations and the list goes on...
Yeah sounds like a winner and nothing like these libertarians purport him to be. Check out his voting record at:
http://www.votesmart.org/voting_category.php?can_id=296
what policies would those be?
"'Libertarianism' has become the new code word to cover all that conservative Republican politicians love."
new? how familiar are you with politics in the united states?
"If you analyze it I believe the very heart and soul of conservatism is libertarianism." - ronald reagan, 1975.
your specious reasoning, unfamiliarity with even the most basic aspects of the so-call "right", and misrepresentation of actual political positions of opposition candidates, precludes one from giving your argument credence and provides a strong temptation to dismiss it outright.
It's all there in black and white and difficult to understand what he votes for and against. Hardly "specious".
Liberty, equality, brotherhood in English.
They too where repressed by the Elite.
Write a Blog explaining THIS The systematic Torture of Detainee's and their children in Afghan detention centers where OUR soldiers under Obama sent them..the U.N did an investigation and it seems it is Widespread ..one article say's 47 detention centers were found to have systematically tortured children.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x5022771
http://www.bmj.com/content/343/bmj.d6773.extract
so instead of trying to attack an Honest man of integrity a TRUE Peace Monger a true conservative libertarian..why don't you go investigate THAT and put the attack where it belongs
If you want to focus an article on fake libertarians, focus on someone who's had a career of inconsistency, who just tells voters what they want to hear, and who might actually become leader of the free world. Focus on Republicans who talk about free markets and laissez faire capitalism while favoring military empire and corporate bailouts. You'd pretty much have your pick of the litter.