Posts in "Liberals"

By Elliot Engstrom at 7:19PM

Mar 17, 2010

The Delusion of Modern Liberals

There’s an old saying about the definition of a liberal, as opposed to a radical: a liberal is someone who thinks the system is broken and needs to be fixed, whereas a radical understands it’s working the way it’s supposed to ... A liberal who doesn’t think the system is working, doesn’t understand what it’s supposed to do.

So writes Kevin Carson in his recent piece at the Center for a Stateless Society on why people who play by the rules in American society rarely end up reaping the full benefits of their actions.

While I know that not everyone at YAL agrees with many of the tenants of C4SS, I find great value in this organization as a bridge for the liberty movement to the standard "left" side of the political spectrum. We need to be drawing people to libertarianism from all sides of the political spectrum, and one great way to draw in sincere leftists is to show them that the welfare/warfare state in which they have put their faith is in fact the originator of most of the societal ills that they wish to correct.

Hyporitical Liberals, Good Leftists, and Glenn Greenwald

In the grim age of Obama, many liberals have enthusiastically jumped into the establishment fray. These supposedly free-thinking "radicals" are now completely fine with perpetual war, so long as a "trendy," "urbane" dem is the one leading us into it.

But while most of the left has already been hopelessly corrupted by personality cults and party loyalty, there have been some heroic exceptions to this rule. These "good leftists" have refused to excuse Obama's illiberal policies and doublespeak, and deserve credit for this. Libertarians ought to prove that we are serious, principled thinkers by not just criticizing mainstream hypocrisy, but honoring messages of real dissent, even if the messenger happens to be leftish.

Of these "good leftists," my personal favorite is Salon.com columnist Glenn Greenwald. Today, Glenn agan brought to light an important and interesting story regarding the threats the Obama administration is making in order to cover up overseas torture probes (specifically, by Secretary of State Clinton).

Liberals and Conservatives Agree on One Thing...Scrap the Bill of Rights

From Reason T.V.:

Liberal Democrats and conservative Republicans may disagree on all kinds of things, but based on the way they govern, they've reached a consensus that the Bill of Rights is just way too long.

Indeed, with the exception of the Third Amendment (the one about quartering of troops), is there any aspect of the Bill of Rights that they both support without reservation?