Whither Libertarianism?

ka1gu1a on Freedom Democrats with a provocative post:

With all due respect to Lane, now is the time for libertarians to actually be picking up their manifestos, not putting them down. Low-tax liberalism now is about as much a pipe dream in the US as it would be in one party states such as China or historically, in Mussolini's fascist, corporatist Italy. I'm sorry, libertarianism is not about providing the swing vote for which party gets to select the puppet masters from the same pool of ruling class overlords.

Here's my comment:

You've written an interesting and provocative post. I disagree, but want to raise just one point here. The market's reaction after the Lehman refusal showed that the markets and investors were expecting a bailout. In other words, there was an implicit government guarantee to intervene in a crisis such as this. In this instance, to try and go against the expectations of the market would be very hard and complicated. On the other hand, going forward, it will be clear that this implicit guarantee, which will now be explicit, was partly responsible for this crisis. I believe that this will come to be widely understood. Contrary to what you are saying, the moral hazards of this arrangement are more widely understood and accepted, and will finally have to be addressed.

W. Lane Startin For Governor Of Idaho 2010

Check out the web page for W. Lane Startin for Governor of Idaho in 2010. He's a libertarian Western Democrat who posts on the Daily Kos. I featured one of his posts earlier.

Let's get behind him now. It's not too early.

Libertarian Democrats, Let's Go!

Here's my comment from Startin's post:

"I have started a blog about being a libertarian Democrat, called The Libertarian Democrat Point Of View. Oddly, I got two positive responses from libertarians, David Boaz and Jesse Young, but nothing from Democrats. I agree with everything you say, the Democratic party is the best choice we have now as libertarians, and our mission is to make our case to Democrats in a way that guarantees that their core values are compatible with ours. I started the blog because this idea was posited by Kos in 2006, but seemed to go nowhere. The libertarian Democrat needs to set forth a clear set of ideas that appeals to Democrats and will bring more people into the party. We can also appeal to moderates, many of which share our core ideals. For me, the way to reduce government is to provide a real and meaningful social net for the needy, and growing our economy in such a way that fewer and fewer people are needy. This takes government intervention in the short run, but a growing economy that can raise the living standards of people at the bottom is the only way to go. The current Republican party doesn't get this at all, as David Frum recently pointed out. On social issues, we already have a lot of agreement. Let's get going!"

Startin himself made some very cogent replies to various liberal questions, so everyone should read through the comments.

The only way to answer critics from within the party and without is to try and develop a relatively consistent set of principles and ideas, and defend them cogently over time.