Oh, Shit ...

A Census worker was found dead today with the word "Fed" scrawled on his chest. He was hanging from a tree. The FBI is still investigating -- there hasn't been an autopsy yet -- so very little is known. The victim was a 51 year-old teacher who worked for the Census Bureau to make a few extra bucks.

It's a horrible tragedy for the guy's family of course and I hope they catch the sick fuck who did it, assuming it was a murder.

Unsurprisingly the guy's body wasn't even cold before left-wing bloggers started saying the murder was because of town hall meetings and anti-Obama protests. "Another Glenn Beck Killing?" asks Oliver Willis (What, is Beck a serial killer or something?). "Again I ask, at what point does someone using fiery rhetoric, grossly false claims, and race baiting become responsible for the violence it incites?" asks the New Atheist. "[N]ow, people are getting killed as collateral damage from this game," says one of Daily Kos's bloggers.

Never mind that we have no idea yet what actually happened to the Census worker. Never mind that vast overwhelming number of protesters just want to peaceably air their grievances and that the claims of violence at the protests are ridiculously overblown.

That whizzing sound you hear is these bloggers pissing on the ashes of liberaltarianism. They are not interested in expanding freedom or defending the rights of people to peaceably (if obnoxiously) protest. They hate it when anyone opposes them and will wave whatever bloody shirt they can find -- bogus claims of racism, Joe Wilson's outburst, now this guy's death -- to shutdown their opponents. Well, fuck them.

One More Thought On Liberaltarianism

I generally agree with Rob on this subject -- particularly his final point -- so I'll just add one other thing: Has anyone bothered to ask liberals what they think?

Seriously, have they ever shown any interest in forming an alliance with libertarians? Of meeting libertarians even part of the way? For that matter, are liberals even aware that this debate is going on? As far as I can tell, this debate exists solely between conservatives and libertarians.

The only person of any note on the left that I am aware of who has even weighed in is Kos. And it wasn't like he was proposing any sort of meeting of the minds. He was just being strategic, trying to build up the anti-Bush coalition. It wasn't like he cared for -- or for that matter even understood very well -- libertarianism.

As Kos put it:

A Libertarian Dem understands that no one enjoys true liberty if they constantly fear for their lives, so strong crime and poverty prevention programs can create a safe environment for the pursuit of happiness. A Libertarian Dem gets that no one is truly free if they fear for their health, so social net programs are important to allow individuals to continue to live happily into their old age. Same with health care. And so on.

Whatever that is, it's not even close to classical liberal thinking. It is fairly representative of current liberal Democratic thinking though, as the stimulus bill has proved.

As for the rest of the left, they couldn't care less about libertarians. To them, libertarians are just another part of the right-wing fringe and about as welcome. Wilkinson can pack his bags and forever leave the warm embrace of the right and all of its Jesus-freak, fagbashing ways. I would just caution him that this doesn't mean he is about to embark on a passionate affair with the left.

Maybe they'll let him buy them a drink, but I wouldn't count on getting the digits.

The Never Ending Liberaltarian Debate

I've been a busy guy this past week as you may have noticed from the lack of posting. [btw, this offers a fine opportunity to plug our feed. I highly recommend -- and think many of you have already -- subscribing to it to avoid weeks like this] I have however; found the time to casually follow the most recent rehash of the Liberaltarian debate. This you might remember, was the idea (largely championed by some Cato folks, esp Brink Lindsey) that the libertarians were an electoral force to be reckoned with. A substantial swing vote that could and should be courted by the left forming an electoral coalition built upon the mutual fondness of Washington cocktail parties, gay marriage and argyle sweaters. Most on the right mocked the idea, legitimately pointing out that if libertarians were wary of the cold shoulders while in the GOP big tent, just wait to see what an unlubricated dick up the ass felt like from the Democrats.

You're more than welcome to check out the recent round for yourself (if you haven't already) by reading Jonah Goldberg's initial post that set Will Wilkinson off because Jonah said Will must be "vexed" by the $900 billion stimulus package. Memo to self: Don't ever accuse a libertarian of being annoyed at a $900 billion dollar spending package. Goldberg then answered back, some others joined in offering their thoughts.

Personally I never got it. I understand that a Will Wilkinson type likes to think about big things, minus the practicality of said big things, and that's all well and good, but when it comes to a political alliance practicality matters very much. On the surface, it seems that the Liberaltarian idea glosses over a lot of important on-the-ground type stuff in favor of the sexier, political theory shit. I'm sure it makes for great conversation at Washington cocktail parties (and really, who doesn't like saying Rawlsian over and over again. I know that's always gotten me laid....), but if you actually care about affecting political change...well then you might want to worry about the logistics of the whole affair.

All this being said; it might not matter. A lot of cosmopolitan libertarians voted for Obama for various reasons, none of them making much sense to me, but nonetheless they voted for the lefty on the ballot. I guess that’s the big joke --- all the political theory bullshit might not much matter, because the work is already done. Cosmopolitan libertarians are just much more socially comfortable with contemporary liberals as opposed to conservatives.