The wedding is over, I’m back from the honeymoon, everything is going well and I’m now a happily married man. Before I left for Aruba I asked Rollo not to screw anything up…Thankfully he did nothing at all. There has been a lot to write about over the past month or so that I’ve been away from the blog but I heard something on the radio a little over a week ago that really bothered me.
I was leaving a friend’s house late last Monday night. When I got in the car and turned on the radio, the John Batchelor show was on. I rarely drive after 11:00 during the week, so I was unfamiliar with the show. I also have no idea when the show originally aired. I don’t think it was live when I heard it, but it couldn’t have been that long ago based on the topics they were discussing. One of the several guests who joined him that day was Michael Tomasky.
I don’t even remember what they were talking about because the irritatingly smug Michael Tomasky said something so asinine I have to question his motives. He said that Rand Paul, and all the other mainstream Libertarians, are not Libertarians at all. I’m not tuned into everything that happens in Washington, but does Rand Paul even consider himself a Libertarian? I thought the big complaint about Rand is that he isn’t as Libertarian as his father. Anyway, that statement itself wasn’t so bad, I’d be willing to hear his case as to why all these “Libertarian” congressmen aren’t Libertarian at all.
The reason Michael says Paul can’t be Libertarian is because (in his words) he is against gay marriage and he is not pro-abortion. Then the non-Libertarian Tomasky explained what a real Libertarian is….Someone who wants government out of personal decisions, so you cannot be a Libertarian and pro-life or against gay marriage. I think Mike either needs a lesson or he is just so caught up in the left/right paradigm and can’t for the life of him understand the state vs individual argument.
I cannot speak for the Libertarian party, but as I understand it, the Non Aggression Principal is the keystone of the Libertarians’ beliefs. The Non Aggression Principal states that all aggression is illegitimate. Mike, it should not be too tough to see how a Libertarian could view sucking a baby’s brains out of its head as an act of aggression. As for gay marriage, would a Libertarian’s view not be for government to stay the hell out of marriage all together? Essentially a Libertarian would probably say that the government should not acknowledge any marriage at all. It should be a private/church institution. After all, if the state imploded tomorrow, I’d still consider myself married. The marriage doesn’t dissolve with the state.
I had never heard of Michael Tomasky before. I looked him up at home and it turns out he is Editor in Chief of Democracy and contributes to Newsweek and The Daily Beast. Based on his smug arrogance, I assumed he was an Ivy Leaguer, but it turns out he only went to West Virginia for undergrad and NYU for his Poli Sci grad degree. You’d think with that graduate degree from NYU he would have learned something, but he is as ignorant as most the others. He is used to group-think and looking at a list and putting himself into a category…Democrats are pro-abortion, pro-welfare- anti-war, I mean pro-war if it is Syria, etc. Republicans are pro-life, pro-gun, smaller government, bigger national defense, etc. Mike wants there to be a list for Libertarians as well. Unfortunately for Tomasky, Libertarians cannot be defined the same way Republicans or Democrats are.
As I did my research I found out this isn’t the first time he has used his baseless argument against Rand Paul. He also wrote it on his blog in 2010. As I briefly scrolled through the comments, I noticed some people tried to explain the Non Aggression Principal. Mike still hasn’t learned. Either that, or he is scared of the movement…”Hey, you all think it is cool to be Libertarians? Well Libertarians are pro-abortion, pro-gay marriage, just like liberals, and just like me.”
Mike, you’re totally missing the point, and making yourself sound stupid. I’m sure NYU is proud.
God Bless Freedom, Liberty, and Personal Property,
Slappy Jones II
I wouldn’t waste my frustration on someone who writes for The Daily Beast. But your piece brought to mind as issue that has been bothering me about the “Libertarian Party,” for lack of a better term. Libertarians are supposed to be all about freedom. In theory, it is the ultimate “big tent” political movement. Yet in recent elections, Libertarians seem more intent on purifying their party than garnering as much support as possible. This is a huge mistake in my opinion for two reasons. First, if you consistently earn single digit support when it comes to percentage of the total vote, your party should be more interested in expanding its voter base to the masses than narrowing to a few “die-hards.” Second, I feel that Libertarians betray their core principles when they shun people who don’t agree with 100% of their platform. If I choose to vote for a Democrat or Republican, I do so because I agree with a majority of the candidate’s positions. But I would end up having to write-in my own name on the ballot for every position if it required agreeing on every issue. If Libertarians want to be a legitimate third party in American politics, they must be willing to accept the voters who agree with 70 or 80% of their platform. Rejecting these voters is not only foolish, it contradicts their core principles of open-mindedness, liberty, and self reliance.