NPR: This Is a Libertarian Open Thread

This Is a Libertarian Open Thread

Filed under: Election 2008

On today's show, David Weigel of Reason magazine reported from the 2008 Libertarian presidential convention.

Weigel says the Libertarians have real hope for winning elections this year. Candidates are talking about furthering the legacy of Ron Paul, who has been running as a Republican this year. Meanwhile, the Libertarians are talking about each other, with the left and right wings trading accusations about plans for last-minute takeovers.

Consider this your Libertarian thread. No questions. No directions. The marketplace of ideas is always open. Unless I'm out having a picnic with my family.

Laura Conaway

2:50 PM ET | 05-23-2008 | permalink

Comments (Send a comment)

I took the Libertarian web quiz (http://www.theadvocates.org/quiz.html) and discovered that I'm a Centrist, leaning toward Statist. Who knew?

Sent by Lars Hoel | 3:47 PM ET | 05-23-2008

Mike Pesca makes my libertarian blood boil daily.

Sent by Emilie | 5:08 PM ET | 05-23-2008

I just discovered Ayn Rand and am now devouring all of her works. I love her!

I'm glad to see that professional politicians are flocking to libertarianism. It's an ideology that I believe molds with most Americans.

Sent by Michael | 4:34 AM ET | 05-24-2008

I'm a republican desperately searching for an alternative and the LP gives me an ex neocon. THANKS

Sent by daddysteve | 7:20 PM ET | 05-25-2008

Wow, where's all that vim & vigor that had Conway scrambling to get through the mountains of comments just a couple months back? Was Paul just a flash in the pan? As past tense as Von Dutch caps?

In my humble opinion, American Libertarianism is the political philosophy of the thoughtless indifferent egotist. The teenager analogy always seems to fit best: "We don't need no education. Just protect us from the bullies. Otherwise, leave us kids alone." They're an intelligent lot, but so fed up with politics & cooperation that they'd just prefer to leave their "inferiors" to rot.

What is liberty, if the ability to exercise it is so concentrated in the upper-class, while the vast majority are deprived of the affordable food, housing, & education that would allow them to do more fight for scraps? If you want to see the libertarian experience in action in this country, just look to how undocumented workers must struggle to get by. There is much liberty in the Saharan Desert, but who in the U.S. really wants it?

As far as I've seen, the only cure to American Libertarianism, like that of a broken heart, is time. The intuitive appeal of social Darwinism & fetishization of Free Market Capitalism suddenly fade when its your own children or dependent family suffering. The nagging doubt begins to marinate. If only they'd gotten the education they needed. If only they'd had insurance. If only there'd been an assisted living facility for them. If only there'd been a rehab center. Sadly, no levity is available to allow them to appreciate the irony of such a fate.

Sent by CheshireKatz | 10:07 PM ET | 05-25-2008

Daddy, please look up what a neoconservative is. It's someone who believes that American military power should be used to promote democracy around the world. I'm not sure Bob Barr was ever one.

Sent by Michael | 1:02 AM ET | 05-26-2008

I honestly think that Mike Gravel, if you had to pick between Barr and Gravel, would have made the more Libertarian candidate. I suppose if this fellow who was Perot's campaign manager is serious about winning, maybe we can mess up the landscape this time perhaps as much as Perot did. Otherwise there's no point. The saddest aspect is having Root on the ticket. If he's now for pulling out of Iraq, it was pretty "last minute" and I sort of wonder how different Barr-Root is from Mitt Romney? It's not a TOTAL 180 like Mitt Romney, but it pretty much is on everything but economic conservatism.

Sent by Robert Edward Johnson | 1:37 PM ET | 05-26-2008

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