Check this out:
Reason, of course, in it’s new incarnation as the official organ of the libertarian movement’s aging hipsters and would-be “cool kids,” vehemently opposes reaching out to middle and working class Americans: that is far too “square” for the black-leather-jacket-wearing Nick Gillespie, formerly associated with something called Suck magazine, and Matt Welch, who was an unknown quantity before getting the job at Reason. Right-wing populism? As far as the Suck-y crowd is concerned, one might as well tout the appeal of “right-wing botulism.” Libertarianism, as understood by the editors of Reason, is all about legalizing methamphetamine, having endless “hook-ups,” and giving mega-corporations tax breaks (so Reason can keep scarfing up those big corporate contributors). The decidedly “square” Dr. Paul—a ten-term Republican congressman from Texas, no less, and a pro-life country doctor of decidedly conservative social views—was and is anathema to Team Suck.
Now, if I were like the MSM and only cared about horse-races and cat-fights, I'd leave it at that, but let's hear a little further explanation:
What would the “Smearbund” do without David Duke? No smear campaign is complete without dragging him into it. No matter what the subject—the Iraq war, the Mearsheimer and Walt book, affirmative action—if you take the politically incorrect position, according to the neocons, then you’re marching shoulder-to shoulder with the former Klansman and professional nut-job.
And sure enough, the Kirchick piece takes the Paul newsletter to task for supposedly having “kind words” for Duke. Yet, if you go and read what the newsletter says about Duke, it is clear the author was merely saying Duke’s success is due to his opposition to affirmative action and the welfare state: indeed, Kirchick cites a passage (without citing it in full) in which Duke is taken to task for his lack of a “consistent package of freedom.” Yet the willfully ignorant Radley Balko, another Cato type, avers: “I simply can’t imagine seeing any piece of paper go out under my name that included sympathetic words for David Duke. That a newsletter with Paul’s name did just that demands an explanation from Paul.”
Well, my three paragraph rule just isn't going to work for me here, let's look at a couple more:
The explanation, which would be apparent if Balko had actually cited what is written, is that these weren’t sympathetic words for Duke, per se, or his political ambitions, but for the issues—legitimate issues—that he raised (and exploited) in his Louisiana campaign. After all, libertarians such as Paul reject affirmative action, racial set-asides, and all other forms of state-enforced special treatment for “minorities” precisely because they oppose racism, or any form of collectivism.
By the way, libertarians also oppose so-called civil rights legislation that outlaws discrimination based on race, gender, sexual orientation, or disability, because it violates the rights of property-owners. William F. Buckley Jr. famously derided libertarian (and “right-wing populist”) opposition to such legislation as valorizing Lester Maddox’s refusal to “serve a Negro a plate of pork chops.” Buckley’s quip surely underscored the venality and small-mindedness of Maddox and his ilk—and yet, lost in all this, is the reality of the libertarian position, which is that people have the right to be venal, small-minded, and, yes, viciously, stupidly, horribly wrong, provided they don’t initiate the use of force.
I want you to remember, this is written by a homosexual, who lives in the Bible Belt. Or, wait a minute... Am I assuming he lives in or near Auburn, Alabama because of his close ties with The Mises Institute? My intuition is telling me he actually live in San Francisco, where the discrimination against gays isn't quite as acute (nor chronic, for that matter) as Alabama.
Haha.
I'm gonna post this now. I'll get the links in later. I'm gonna just steal 'em directly from Raimondo, so if you don't see 'em yet, go to the original article. I recommend that you do so anyway. He has so much more to say. BTW, everything I know about blogging, I learned from him. Getting away from reading him has harmed me. Remember, I always balanced my reading of my hero E.G. Ross with Raimondo.
Those were the best of times.
In other, but related news, I need to put links that I got from LewRockwell.com here where I can get back to them: 1. Mr. Jefferson Comes Home, 2. McCain and the Militarist Mentality: His electoral comeback is an ill omen and 3. Locking a Nation Into Permanent Childhood
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