I'm just about through with calling myself a libertarian.  I've tried putting various descriptors on the term: 'small-l libertarian', 'conservative libertarian', 'non-doctrinaire libertarian', 'practical libertarian', etc., but they neither satisfy nor roll off the tongue nicely.  I'm at the point where I have no idea what to call my ideological bent.

Melissa Clouthier has written a very good piece about how libertarians have completely marginalized themselves.  I'm having difficulty finding a short part to excerpt, so RTWT.  It's not very long.  The point of the article is that, in a year when the Tea Party has had a huge impact, and there is a real choice to be made at the polls in many races, the libertarians are still whining and refusing to vote.

Now, I'm a firm believer in not voting for the lesser of two evils, but one can take this much too far.  One must have some sense of priorities and not let 'the perfect be the enemy of the good'.  I hate that fucking phrase as it's used all the time by people as a way to say, "sure we suck, but we're slightly less sucky, so vote for us," but in this case it's appropriate.  The key is that you need some good, which is why I'm willing to sit out if needed, but you don't need all good, or you'll never vote.  To recognize 'some good', you have to have priorities.

And that's the big problem with libertarians.  Their priorities are completely fucked up.  They deserve the mocking they get as a bunch of stoners, because legalizing pot should be a very low priority item, given everything else that's going on in the country.  In theory, I'm all for legalizing pot, but relative to getting entitlements and government pensions under control, the war on drugs is a fucking drop in the bucket.  If that's your hill to die on, your issue that you're willing to sit out for (or worse, cast a vote for a socialist), you're a fucking asshole.

This is why Ron Paul is such a joke.  He's got all kinds of shady associations.  He's out there talking about a return to the gold standard, when to even get to the point where it could be considered, a zillion other more important things would have to happen first.  Priorities, asshole.  Then, when he proposes important, practical legislation like an audit of the Fed, he has trouble getting taken seriously because he's out there in la-la-libertarian-land so often.

Maybe I should continue to call myself a libertarian, and just call fucktards like Matt Welch something else -- like fucktard.  The problem is that they and others will continue to call them libertarians.  So, I'm kind of stuck at the moment.  I'll just have to keep myself on a practical, prioritized course of action while I come up with a new ideological term.

Posted by: Hermit Dave at 07:51 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 485 words, total size 3 kb.