Libertarian Democratic Economics

David Leonardt wrote an interesting piece on Sen. Obama's economic philosophy in the New York Times Magazine on Sunday, August 20th. It contains the following quote:

"There is, however, a more philosophical critique of Obama’s tax policies. It’s one that Douthat and Salam make in “Grand New Party.” The book doesn’t mention Obama by name, but it contains one of the best summaries of his economic policy that I have read. The authors describe a new-model liberal consensus that weds “the free-market centrism of the Clinton years to a revived push for European-style social democracy.” This neoliberalism, as they call it, wouldn’t involve the big-government programs of the postwar years, but the government would come to play a larger role in the economy and would redistribute much more income from the rich to everyone else. “This is, in many respects, a deeply un-American solution to the problems facing our country,” the authors write, “one that would emphasize dependence over self-sufficiency and bureaucratic condescension over self-help.”

Assuming this to be Sen. Obama's philosophy, is it un-american ? How does it relate to a Democratic Libertarian view?

I would suggest that this is essentially the Democratic Libertarian view. In other words, from the point of view of income, the government may redistribute income when it will greatly increase the liberty of one group ( namely, the poor ), and not significantly effect the the liberty of another group ( namely, the rich ).

I don't want to argue whether this redistribution is un-american or bureaucratic or dependence forming here, only to point out the principle that liberty must be considered in any such analysis in order for the position to be called libertarian. Obviously, from my point of view, such a redistribution does increase overall liberty. More on that as I go on.