A good post I found on another site.

I really am tired of hearing this. So this is just what I thought when I read this post on a {Campus*Progress} Blog.

" . . . . . but I'm a libertarian."

By siddique - Sep 14th, 2005 at 5:30 pm EDT

I don't know how many times I've heard people add this as a rejoinder when disclosing that they're conservatives. That's because there's a perception that there's something nice or good about being a libertarian, and somehow it's "okay" if you are.

Actually, libertarians are among the worst kind of conservatives. On the micro level, they hold all sorts of incorrect beliefs about social organization (for example, thinking that markets are always more "efficient" than government at distributing goods and services). They also would like to roll back the New Deal, which should disturb progressives.

And even on the issues where liberals and libertarians agree on the right policy prescriptions, such as individual rights and civil liberties issues, the underlying rationale behind libertarian thinking is the same problematic one: that government is something citizens need to be liberated from. The exact opposite is true: people need big, efficient government that helps mitigate the inequalities that result from the imperfect operation of markets.

Then I also read this reply to the post and it also sums up my views on the whole Libertarian thing.

Closet Republicans

By AugustJPollak - Sep 14th 2005 at 5:44 pm EDT

I think there's an old saying along the lines of "a Libertarian is a Republican who like to smoke weed." I knew a lot of "Libertarians" when I was at NYU because of course in the climate saying you were a Republican had hire requirements to actually defend your views. This is totally true. When I asked someone if they were a Republican and they responded "Well, I'm really a Libertarian," my response was to ask them who was the Libertarian candidate for President. 4 out of five didn't know, 1 out of 10 they weren't even aware there was such a thing as The Libertarian Party. Not a statement of condescension or anything like that, just sort of an observation that a lot of times people like to use terms like "I'm a libertarian" or "I'm a strict constructionist" or "classic Democrat" or such nonsense to avoid just admitting they're a right-winger.

Come back soon