Which echoes RR:
“If you analyze it I believe the very heart and soul of conservatism is libertarianism. I think conservatism is really a misnomer just as liberalism is a misnomer for the liberals — if we were back in the days of the Revolution, so-called conservatives today would be the Liberals and the liberals would be the Tories. 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.” – Ronald Reagan Reason Magazine July 1975
Comments
6 responses to “Jim DeMint: Republicans Not Libertarian Enough”
Libertarianism seems unlikely to ever get much of a shot. “Leave me alone” attitudes are seldom a driving political force. Of course, when the control freaks have screwed things up bad enough…there is a window of opportunity.
Is it possible that Republican pols are re-assessing the political winds and sniffing libertarian opportunity? Maybe. Only time will tell, of course.
IMO, I think they are. There are several things that have transpired over the last few years that indicate to me that Republicans are beginning to re-position themselves as more libertarian. For instance:
Gov. Mitch Daniels’ recommendation to take social issues off the table for 2012
The election of Rand Paul to the Senate from Kentucky
The enthusiasm for the Ron Paul campaign, especially among younger voters
Rev. Pat Robertson calling for reform of marijuana laws
I know that’s not a lot but just a few years ago, none of these things even seemed possible.
And I think there is a growing sense among more and more Republicans that the social issues that have animated some conservatives in recent decades are political dead ends in the long run now.
Let’s look at the issues:
1. Gay rights and same sex marriage — Polls show growing support for legalizing same sex marriage, and the demographics show that support is greater among younger voters than older voters. Given that breakdown, support is only going to grow as time passes.
2. Abortion — There’s been little movement on abortion for decades now. Polls show that a majority of Americans think most abortions are morally suspect, yet at the same time the polls also show that a majority of Americans think abortion should remain legal.
3. Drug laws — Support for the WOD is fading, especially concerning marijuana. About 50% of the nation thinks MJ should be legal. Also, see Pat Robertson above.
One of the reasons these issues are looking like political losers is that, quite frankly, the optics are bad for social conservatives here. The social conservative position on all three issues has the effect of restricting human action or restricting a person’s rights or freedom. No one likes their rights restricted and those championing restrictions are easily painted as anti-liberty authoritarians by the opposition.
The other reason that these issues are long term losers is that demographics are working against social conservatives here. The younger generations are more socially liberal than the older generations, so as the older generation dies, the remaining population grows more socially liberal as time passes.
Lastly, there just isn’t a national majority in favor of any of the socon agenda items. Sure, 25-35% of Republicans are squarely behind the agenda, but most independents oppose your agenda as do Democrats. And with a general population that is trending more socially liberal year after year, the chances of a national majority coalescing on the social conservative side on any of these issues seems unlikely to my mind.
The simple fact of the matter is that our culture has changed in many ways the past 50-60 years and many of those changes are permanent. Unfortunately for social conservatives, those issues that are near and dear to their hearts are included in these permanent changes, IMO anyway. It’s time for the Republicans to call off the culture war and join with fiscal conservatives of all stripes (Republicans, L/libertarians, independents, blue dog demos) and get our fiscal house in order and get the government off of peoples’ backs. You know, work for the liberty of all.
Randy,
Excellent!
The simple fact, Randy, is that the two sides have split the issues that have popular support and use them to “sell” their unpopular issues. Rather like cable companies– except in this case the two parties are “cabel” companies.
Matt, you are probably right unfortunately.
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