Way back in my history at RNS, I used to visit the Seattle Indymedia site. I would often get into tangles with some dweeb there who described himself as a “Anarcho-Socialist”.
He believed that the best form of government was a mixture of Anarchy and Socialism.
Shake your head and re-read that as many times as you want, it still won’t make any more sense; The two societal theories are oil and water and even his lenghty explanations were no use in making sense of it, and I just labelled him an idiot.
So imagine my eyes crossing when I saw Markos Zuniga, the leader of the Klueless Kos Klan, try describing a “Libertarian Democrat”
It’s no secret that I look to the Mountain West for the future of the Democratic Party, people like Brian Schweitzer and Jon Tester. But I also look to candidates like Jim Webb in Virginia and Paul Hackett in Ohio.
And what is the common thread amongst these candidates?
They are all Libertarian Democrats.
Ack, the “L” word! But hear me out.
Traditional “libertarianism” holds that government is evil and thus must be minimized. Any and all government intrusion is bad. While practical libertarians (as opposed to those who waste their votes on the Libertarian Party) have traditionally aligned themselves with the Republicans, it’s clear that the modern GOP has no qualms about trampling on personal liberties. Heck, it’s become their raison d’ etre.
The problem with this form of libertarianism is that it assumes that only two forces can infringe on liberty — the government and other individuals.
The Libertarian Democrat understands that there is a third danger to personal liberty — the corporation. The Libertarian Dem understands that corporations, left unchecked, can be huge dangers to our personal liberties.
Libertarian Dems are not hostile to government like traditional libertarians. But unlike the liberal Democrats of old times (now all but extinct), the Libertarian Dem doesn’t believe government is the solution for everything. But it sure as heck is effective in checking the power of corporations.
In other words, government can protect our liberties from those who would infringe upon them — corporations and other individuals.
So in practical terms, what does a Libertarian Dem look like? A Libertarian Dem rejects government efforts to intrude in our bedrooms and churches. A Libertarian Dem rejects government “Big Brother” efforts, such as the NSA spying of tens of millions of Americans. A Libertarian Dem rejects efforts to strip away rights enumerated in the Bill of Rights — from the First Amendment to the 10th. And yes, that includes the 2nd Amendment and the right to bear arms.
From Kos’s description, I’m seeing a Scoop Jackson Democrat or, for a modern day example, almost a Joe Liberman.
Like the idology I mentioned earlier, Libertarianism and Democratic Socialism are oil and water. You cannot mix the two so as to say that government is only a bad thing “Some of the Time”; Libertarians believe it is bad all of the time and socialists believe government is an all powerful diety. Socialists believe that government can fix anything, Libertarians believe that government can fuck up a popsicle.
So, like the IMC dipnut I spoke of earlier, Kos too, is an idiot.
He believes that government can ‘control the power’ of corporations when, if he would read his history, government has created more powerful, and corrupt, corporations than would have evolved if left to their own devices.
But he feels the need to get his Klueless Kids to get out the vote for these candidates, and in doing, mislabels them with his idiocy (remember, Kos choice candidates are 0 for 20).
Interesting to see right and left try to claim libertarians as their own. It’s quite a song and dance routine to at once praise libertarian philosophy and trash the Libertarian Party.
But I like the fact that they are fighting over us. It draws much needed attention to our policy ideas while acknowledging us as the good.
The LP now has the challenge and opportunity of demolishing the Wasted Vote Syndrome myth for once and for all, and drawing libertarians were they belong- in the Libertarian Party.
Until he got to the part of “insert here what a libertarian Democrat would stand for”, Kos seemed to actually be drinking a cup of water, not Kool-Aid.
When he got to the part about what such L/Donks stand for though, it just seems too pat, too stylized. He even threw gunnies a bone about the 2A.
It’s a sea change, and it doesn’t make sense. If it were to be true, he just threw away ALL of his readership. Kos wouldn’t do that unless he were about to get out of the game entirely and sign on with a (D)onk campaign somewhere as Communications Director, and the one he is signing on with happens to be one of the very-rare libertarian Democrats.
More likely, he is following orders from higher up, and this is the first effort to marginalize libertarians, who the (D)onks are more fearful of this election cycle. There is talk of a real third-party effort this time, and conventional wisdom says that the Looney Left might be left to swing in the breeze if it happens.
I think what he is trying to do is piss off his base, to get them more vocal and make their numbers seem higher than they are.
Reverse psychology from the usual mouther of absurdities.
That’s a much better fit than supposing that this is an epifany.
This is just a spin-off of Noam Chomsky’s “I’s a Libertarian-Socialist” bull. Let’s pretend we’re intillectual contemporaries with the thinking man of the century and all make-up suitably intelligent comments to describe ourselves at this moment. “I’m a Compassionate Khanist leaning towards the less round side of the Yurt today.” Stand buy for the other barrel of the smug-gun.