Rand Paul has an op-ed in Tuesday's USA Today, in which he describes himself as a "constitutional conservative." The title of the piece is, "Rand Paul, libertarian? Not quite," but Dr. Paul fails to distinguish any dissimilarity between the being a constitutional conservative or libertarian. No matter what political philosophy Dr. Paul subscribes to (Note: His father, Congressman Ron Paul, also identifies as being a constitutional conservative), it seems as if he's trying to shed the tag of libertarian because it's become a polarized word:
It's often repeated in stories about me or my race for U.S. Senate that I am a "libertarian." In my mind, the word "libertarian" has become an emotionally charged, and often misunderstood, word in our current political climate. But, I would argue very strongly that the vast coalition of Americans — including independents, moderates, Republicans, conservatives and "Tea Party" activists — share many libertarian points of view, as do I.
A recent unscientific poll taken via the Young Americans for Liberty Facebook page showed that out of 47 participants, 35 described themselves as subscribing to a libertarian political orientation. Conservatism and liberalism both netted 5 votes, and there were 2 votes for "other." What do you think, if any, are the main differences between libertarianism and constitutional conservatism?
As far as success in GOP politics goes, I'd suspect that "constitutional conservative" gets you a lot farther than "libertarian." So in that sense, the former term may just be a euphamism for the latter.
I'd say the main difference is that it is easier to get elected when you label yourself as a constitutional conservative rather than a libertarian :D
I enjoy using the Constitution as a rhetorical bludgeon against what the govt does as much as the next guy, but it is clearly inferior as a blueprint for limiting government compared to the Articles of Confederation. If only they had did what they said they were going to do in 1787 and just proposed amendments to the Articles... :(
Jynx!
I would fair to say that the main difference is that a libertarian believes in Nozicks main principals of government intervention in your life which are contract enforcement, defense, and the conservation of personal property. Whilst a constitutional conservative believes in the above libertarian principals along with maintaining the enumerated powers of government within the constitution. I could be wrong, but this is how I best rationalize it.
There is no difference philosophically, what it really comes down to is trust in the state.
Libertarianism can simply be summed up by the non-agression axiom and a belief in private property., where as once someone has agressed against you, your property or your rights, without your consent, then you have a right to defend yourself and your property.
Constitutional Conservatives, want the constitution to chain down the institution of the state so that the state has a single purpose of being the agressive force for defence. Anarcho-capitalist libertarians want individuals to take care of the own disputes, either prior to having them, or through a set of priciples guided by the non-agression axiom, but without a state as the defender.
Libertarianism is the umbrella term that both can fit under because they both recognize the same priciples, just different modes of achieving the defense of them.
I think one of the large differences is immigration. Neither of the Paul's have a very libertarian stance when it comes to immigration.
Hello,
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