This supposed libertarian manages to forget the recent history of conservatism--militarist neocons on the one hand and intrusive totalitarian-leaning Christian rightists on the other. And this comment is laughable:
Which conservatives believe this? Few of the ones in office.Ultimately, here is the point that libertarians should consider. Since conservatives believe in weak, small government, that is a built-in safeguard inherent to conservatism that keeps them from going too far on the social side. Conservative has a built-in check-and-balance in that way.
But liberalism's belief in smothering, powerful central governments gives them the power to make reality of whatever they socially believe in. And the facts of our society since FDR bear that out.
No only does this show, as Hoven concluded, that libertarians have nothing to fear from conservatives, but it also means that libertarians and conservatives cannot SURVIVE without one another.
It's time to "partner up" to slay the beast on the other side.
Jeffrey Tucker annihilates this sort of thinking:
http://www.lewrockwell.com/tucker/tucker46.htmlSome protest that conservatism once meant resistance to the welfare-warfare state. That is a fascinating piece of historiography, as interesting as the fact that liberalism once meant freedom from the state. Glasses were once called spectacles too, but in our times, language has it own meaning.
In our times, the meaning of conservatism is violence. It means violence against foreigners and violence against political dissidents. It means celebrating violence as the right and proper method of government policy. It means soundly rejecting the views of those who doubt the merit of violence as the omnipotent tool of domestic and international order.
Just look at the books, if you can stand it. They are everywhere at the bookstores. Read them and get on the side of the state and its killing machine before the state sides against you. In these tracts we discover that to be conservative is to sit up and face the bloodshed with the courage to celebrate it.
Indeed, the very meaning of conservatism is to reject all that smarmy liberal stuff about human rights and peace and face the productive power of war and conflict. True morality is embedded in the cold hard steel of tanks, bombers, and prison bars. Government by Democrats should be limited but government by Republicans should be expensive, global, militarized, unchallenged, omnipresent, and if you don't like it, what have you got to hide?
Organized conservatism dishes out this message to you in a package you prefer. For the illiterate there is talk radio. For geeks, there are innumerable e-zines. For the religiously minded, there is the version with scriptural proof texting and its associated rhetorical apparatus. For those with intellectual pretensions, there are professors of ancient history to tell us that Sparta had the right way about it, and that the Roman Empire at its height might have lasted forever had it not been for weak-kneed Christians that hindered the triumph of the will.
Oh, and for those who don't go for the rah-rah stuff, and find base nationalism a tad unseemly, there is the contemplative brand of conservatism that requires quiet reflection on higher things, with noses in the air even as the blood rises to the ankles, knees, and hips.
Or maybe policy wonkery is just not your bag. You care about the "moral issues." In that case, the GOP has a package for you that will whip you into a frenzy about abortion, gay marriage, and stem cells – it really doesn't matter so long as you continue to cheer the commander in chief and do your part to keep the dangerous Democrats out of power.
Yes, I've heard all the arguments that this is "phony conservatism," or "neoconservatism," or "conservatism that has sold out to the Republican Party," but all of these qualifications and apologies are increasingly strained.
What we find in these disgraceful tracts is plain and simple orthodox conservatism: violent, blood-thirsty, and anti-intellectual. All the years that the party of freedom warned about the dangers of the left and what do we find? We find that the real hammer blows to American liberty are being delivered by an unexpected source: the right you might once have thought represented a freedom-minded alternative to Clinton and Carter.
You were lied to.
