yamauchi@SPEECH2.CS.CMU.EDU (Brian Yamauchi) (04/04/88)
I have heard the (small "l") libertarian wing of the Republican Party mentioned a number of times (in Maddox & Lilie's "Beyond Liberal and Conservative", for example). My question is: does this wing exist, and why haven't they taken a role in the primaries? Also, what is the Libertarian Republican Organizing Committee? (I should make it clear that I am using the M&L definition of libertarianism -- conservative on economic freedom, liberal on personal freedom -- and not natural rights, or non-initiation of force, or anything like that...) ______________________________________________________________________________ Brian Yamauchi INTERNET: yamauchi@speech2.cs.cmu.edu Carnegie-Mellon University Computer Science Department ______________________________________________________________________________
joel@mit-amt.MEDIA.MIT.EDU (joel s. kollin) (04/04/88)
In article <1291@PT.CS.CMU.EDU> yamauchi@SPEECH2.CS.CMU.EDU (Brian Yamauchi) writes: > >I have heard the (small "l") libertarian wing of the Republican Party >mentioned a number of times (in Maddox & Lilie's "Beyond Liberal and >Conservative", for example). My question is: does this wing exist, and why >haven't they taken a role in the primaries? The answer is simple - they are a casualty of the Reagan Revolution. While Reagan pays lip service to economic freedom and "getting government" off of the backs of the people, actions speak louder than words. Fed. Gov't spending as a percentage of GNP has increased even as social spending has declined in real terms, the Administration has launched repeated attacks on personal liberties, and has invented new, creative menas of protectionism ("voluntary" import restrictions) which only hurt the consumer. Need I say anything about Republicans who disagree with Reagan? There are more Fundementalists than libertarians, I'm afraid. The Democrats haven't been much better. I suppose Dukakis is the closest to being libertarian since Carter, but I'm not sure how much that's saying. BTW, the April edition of "Atlantic" has a real hysterical cut-up of Bush in it. It's called "War is Heck" joel kollin