Libertarian Democrats, Unicorns and Other Mythical Creatures

Libertarian economist Arnold Kling calls liberals' bluff and exposes the recruitment of libertarian minded folks over to the Dems's side for this election as the naked cynical ploy as it is. In reading Kling's proposal and thinking about the numerous offers that could substitute for Kling's pick of school choice, I'm not sure that liberals and Democrats quite understand libertarianism at all really. They seem to think they can lure libertarians with their pro-choice, pro-gay marriage, anti-Patriot Act bona fides. Fine, but what about gun control, school choice, high taxes in general, targeted nanny taxes (like Nick Kristof's Coca-Cola tax), social security reform, and health savings accounts? Don't they know that libertarians hate it, love it, hate 'em, really hate 'em, want it, and really want it? So it would seem that there isn't a compelling case for libertarians to vote for Democrats apart from Republican buffoonery. There has to be more to it. So to find out what the 'more to it' is, I went to Kos's expanation of it all. I tried to make sense of it, but that is impossible. Kos's argument is so incredibly daft, if this guy is the intellectual guru of the netroots, we have nothing to fear from them. His basic argument seems to be that big business is now more powerful than government and since libertarians hate big government, we should hate big business more. And what is the cure for big business? Well, government naturally. What is particularly striking is that in the one exmaple Kos points to, the awful spectacle of a dominant Microsoft, big business didn't prove all-powerful after all. Microsoft faded as a tech overlord as entrepreneurs gave us new, more, and better options. The government actually tried and failed to tackle Microsoft, it was free market competition that did the trick. So there is contradiction number one. Contradiction number two comes when Kos attributes the techno-utopian environment that squelched the evil Microsoft to government - education specifically. This is a joke. I can guarantee that Silicon Valley would not exist today if 40 years ago, California walled off its borders and had to make due solely with the folks that came out of its education system. Silicon Valley is what it is because it attracts the best from around the world and is brutally competitive. Kos explicitly makes this judgment when he talks of the techno-utopia being made up of Indians, Chinese and drop-outs. So how is the ascendence of people who grew up outside of the government-run US education system a tribute to the government-run US education system? The argument is terrible. But let's get back to the basic premise that business is more powerful than government. Does GM track you down and threaten you when you buy a Toyota? Does government try to do better to win your approval when you pay only part of your taxes or pay them not at all? What about remodeling your home without a permit or opting to forgo auto insurance because you feel like it? Does Exxon tell you can't build on your land beacuse there is a puddle on it and it is now deemed "wetlands" or because a rare bird migrated through? Does GE make you fork over dough to protect the profits of sugar beet farmers? The basic premise is garbage. Government is still more powerful and more deserving of our checks and reins.

The rest of the case for the Libertarian Democrat is equally poor. It amounts to a bunch of adolescent platitudes about corporations fouling our environment and plundering our treasury and making our lives miserable, all uncritically put forth as received wisdom. About the only thing Kos gets right is that Republicans have failed libertarians, but he fails to show any alignment between libertarians and the Democratic Party based on principles. He points to actual Democrats running in races across the country, who are seemingly libertarian and who are benefitting from Republican failure, but are there any even mildly libertarian figures fighting the fight within the Democratic Party's establishment? He doesn't point to any because there are none. At least the Republicans have a Ron Paul, Jeff Flake, and Tom Coburn, measly contingent that it is, fighting within their party for things that appeal to libertarians. If the Republicans embrace members like these guys more and the Democrats continue to embrace Pelosi, Boxer, Feingold, Reid, Kerry and Hillary "we are going to take things from you" Clinton, the fight for the libertarian vote will be a rout.