Cato Institute's Boaz in the WSJ: Libertarian Orphans

[question everything]

The Wall Street Journal

January 31, 2006

Libertarian Orphans
By DAVID BOAZ
January 31, 2006; Page A14

The Gallup Poll's annual survey on government found that 27% of Americans are conservative; 24% are liberal, up sharply because the poll was taken after Katrina, which boosted support for the proposition that "government should do more to solve our country's problems." Gallup also found -- this year as in others -- that 20% are neither liberal nor conservative but libertarian, opposing the use of government either to "promote traditional values" or to "do too many things that should be left to individuals and businesses." Another 20% are "populist" (supporting government action in both areas), with 10% undefined. Libertarian support, spread across demographic groups, is strongest among well-educated voters.

So where are the libertarians in politics and the media? Since the Clinton impeachment and the Florida recount, there's been a polarization: Congressmen and TV pundits define themselves as red/blue, pro-/anti-Bush, partisan Democrat/Republican, and take rigid liberal/conservative positions on Iraq, tax cuts, Social Security reform, gay marriage, abortion. But polls tell us that Americans aren't quite so partisan.

With big-government conservatives spending money like Imelda Marcos in a shoe store, and big-government liberals supporting the Patriot Act,(they are? - QE) even pro-government populists are represented in D.C. It's the libertarian voters who are orphans. Democrats stand like a wall against tax cuts and Social Security privatization. Republicans want to ban abortion, gay marriage and "Happy Holidays." It's not just Congress -- in Virginia's recent elections, all the Democrats were tax-hikers and all the Republicans were religious rightists. What's a libertarian to do?

The worst aspect of all this is the oracles who appear on TV. You'd think they'd be thoughtful, independent. Yet they're as partisan as the pols. The typical cable show brings viewers two guests, a liberal and a conservative. You can count on conservative writers to defend everything President Bush does, and on liberal editors to denounce the GOP -- no matter what.

(snip)

Mr. Boaz is executive vice president of the Cato Institute.

URL for this article:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB113868094200960766.html (subscription)

[Nomen Tuum]

1. What is Bozo Boaz watching?

Goodness me, All I see on NBC, CNN, CBS, PBS, ABC and BS-RNC are panels stacked in favor of the right!

[No Exit]

2. "Social security privatization" is neither social security nor

privatization. It's just flat-out STEALING. So democrats are absolutely right to "stand like a wall" against it.