Over at Reason.com today, I take a look at how things have been shaping up with the future of libertarians in the GOP:
Back in 2000, Texas Gov. George W. Bush’s political savior, Karl Rove, was performing nothing short of an electoral resurrection, running around South Carolina calling Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) an unpatriotic, illegitimate-black-baby-fathering Manchurian Candidate.
Who could have guessed that eight years later, the senator from Arizona would be dedicating the remainder of his political life to finishing Karl Rove’s good works on Earth?
And yet, as McCain runs around the country this fall, calling Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) an unpatriotic, socialistic terrorist-paller-around-with, it seems he’s taken it upon himself to complete what should be called the Rove Realignment.
No, not the once-envisioned “rolling realignment,” under which the Republican Party would add to its base of white Evangelical Protestants, bringing in Hispanics, culturally conservative African Americans, and economically vulnerable whites—those who supported Medicare Part D and opposed gay marriage in equal measure—to create a “permanent” Republican majority that would last at least a generation.
McCain’s working on the other realignment: The one where eight years of fiscal recklessness and cultural warfare alienates swing voters and withers the Republican Party until the very base of the conservative movement cracks in half—splitting a coalition that has endured since the Barry Goldwater campaign of 1964.
Further down, I’ve got what I believe are the only numbers showing how libertarians are lining up in this election (defined as fiscal conservatives / social liberals) — suffice it to say, it’s not particularly behind McCain.
Between this and my longtime crusade againt the Maverick, it’s probably pretty clear where I stand in this election. But I’ll have a little more to say on the topic later this week.
It is depressing. American capitalism is on the brink of extinction, and “libertarians” are finding reasons to abandon the Republican party in our nations’ hour of need. Love or hate the Republican party, it is the best option available to preserve and protect our economic freedoms. It is sickening that any true libertarian would find some such trivial reasons to abandon the Republican party, when all the economic freedoms that we libertarians so deeply hold stand at risk of being destroyed.
I am not trying to pander to anyone’s fear. I am merely trying to show any libertarian who is willing the listen the risk that face our most cherished beliefs.
Trillions of dollars of American wealth have been destroyed. Trillions of dollars of additional American wealth are at risk of being destroyed. This is going to create a great strain on our governement finances and thrust many individuals into a poverty that they have never known.
If Democrats are given unchecked political control, at every opportunity (and those opportunities will be numerous) the Democrats will show “compassion” to the poor while burdening the most productive members of society with taxes and regulations to curtail their economic freedoms. That is a recipe for economic disaster and a sure way to destroy the additional American wealth that is ar risk of being destroyed.
It is true that Republicans are not perfect in protecting economic freedoms, but they are better. And being better may be enough to help America survive this crisis. And, maybe, just maybe, if we libertarians support the Republican party in this crisis, we can get them to see how vitally important it is to the nations future that they become perfect in protecting economic freedoms.
All I have left to say to you Ryan Sager and any “libertarians” who share his point of view, keep fiddling Nero, Rome is burning.
The biggest disappointment of the McCain campaign is that he is using many of the same consultants and operatives that W used in 2000 and 2004. McCain’s staff are Rovian disciples, even if McCain is not.
I’d like to think that this is in part due to logistical desperation on McCain’s part due to him unexpectedly getting the GOP nomination after he was written off as a goner in the summer of ‘07. He grabbed whatever political talent was available, and found a bunch of tier2 Bush lackeys looking for their next job come 2009.
If in fact the battle for the GOP is lost (a defeat I’m not yet willing to concede), how well will the limited government movement last in the Democrat coalition? Now that the Democrats are in the same position the GOP was in 2000 (control of Congress and the Presidency) will we begin to see cracks in their coalition? I don’t see PA blue-collar union types being keen on supporting gay marriage. I don’t see the rent-seeking titans of industry (who have begun to switch their financial allegiance to the Democrats) happy with card-check legislation.
Or, will the GOP’s various factions re-unite once again to fight the (current) greatest of our lifetime to truth, justice and the American Way: President Barack Obama?
Will you be going to CPAC this year? It would make for a most excellent followup to the opening and closing chapters of your book. I hear it will be sponsored this year by Zoloft.