Constitutional Conservatism vs. Libertarianism

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?

24 Types of Libertarian: A Rebuttal

I found this today on reddit.com/r/libertarian in response to the previously mentioned 24 types of libertarian.

(click for full-size)

Muse: Anti-Establishment Libertarians

My favorite band ever, Muse, released their newest album, "The Resistance" last year. In this interview, Matt Bellamy, the lead singer and guitarist talks about why he released the album:  For liberty.

What to say when people try to peg you as a right-wing partisan.

The following (which I am cross posting from my blog, The Humble Libertarian) can really shock people into a better understanding of who we are and what we stand for as torchbearers of liberty.

I was responding to a libertarian when I wrote it who questioned my libertarian credentials because I believe that human fetuses are human beings that are entitled to human rights, but you can definitely use this when Rachel Maddow types try to discredit you as a rightwing partisan when you criticize Mr. Obama.

They might even really respect the consistency and novelty of your set of political beliefs, and be just intrigued enough to learn more about libertarian ideas. Here it is:

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On an article here about abortion, and why it is certainly possible to be a libertarian and "pro life" if you think that a fetus is a human being (which happens to be the editorial position of The Humble Libertarian), a commentator recently wrote:

Your not a Libertarian if your proLife. Your just another conservative religious nut that doesn't like the current Republicans economic policies.