| CONSERVATISM COME UNDONE: So it is now the federal government's role to micro-manage baseball and to prevent a single Florida woman who is trapped in a living hell from dying with dignity. We're getting to the point when conservatism has become a political philosophy that believes that government - at the most distant level - has the right to intervene in almost anything to achieve the right solution. Today's conservatism is becoming yesterday's liberalism. |
Andrew nails it. Once upon a time conservatives and libertarians were ideological neighbors. But today? Today the GOP believes it should intervene in the lives of ordinary Americans to determine when they should live and die and investigates the use of performance enhancing substances in major league sports. From "leave me alone" to "let me tell you what to do" in just 25 short years.
Back to Sullivan. As he notes, Ronald Reagan once said:
| "If you analyze it I believe the very heart and soul of conservatism is libertarianism. I think conservatism is really a misnomer just as liberalism is a misnomer for the liberals -- if we were back in the days of the Revolution, so-called conservatives today would be the Liberals and the liberals would be the Tories. The basis of conservatism is a desire for less government interference or less centralized authority or more individual freedom and this is a pretty general description also of what libertarianism is." |
Just try and square that quote with the actions of the Republicans in Congress this week.
I just got through watching this week's episode of the Bill Mahr show on HBO. Christie Todd Whitman, one of the guests on his panel, said something that really hit home. In today's GOP, Barry Goldwater would be considered a moderate. Pro-choice. In favor of allowing gay men and women to serve in the military. I'd say she understates the case. In today's GOP it's likely Goldwater wouldn't even get elected!
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