• Login

The Liberal Conservative

Beyond left and right

• Home
• About/Contact

If Democrats AND Republicans had any brains, they’d VOTE Libertarian

Posted by admin on January 25, 2009 in Uncategorized

By Ignacio Gutiérrez

January 26, 2009

If there’s any doubt what Democrats or Republicans stand for at the turn of the 21st century, simply put for brevity’s sake, Democrats highly value civil liberties and believe in bigger government to solve social problems, while Republicans believe in smaller government and stress social problems are better addressed through self-responsibility, which they believe is rooted in social conservatism and religious values. But the size of government is misleading considering it’s really about the role of government Democrats or Republicans envision.

And therein lies the inevitable contradiction within each party’s core beliefs. Civil liberties are almost always restricted, and even jeopardized, under “bigger” government, no matter how benign it’s intentions. And on the flip side, it’s virtually impossible to reign in government when it criminalizes anything and everything deemed morally irreprehensible, particularly when it decides to impose and enforce those policies in foreign countries as well.

Cue the Libertarian party. Libertarians cherish and value civil liberties just as much as Democrats do, and arguably more so, which makes sense why they advocate as minimal a role for government as possible without proposing anarchism. They too realize self-responsibility, without the moral hang-ups, is simply the most effective and efficient means to addressing social issues. They also believe in a foreign policy devoid of needless foreign entanglements and their subsequent military base operations abroad, though this is not to be confused with isolationism, let alone pacifism.

Libertarians’ core beliefs do not contradict one or another and are much less taxing, literally and figuratively speaking, on anyone else’s lifestyles or beliefs. But most importantly, they practice what they preach (if it could be called that) and preach what they practice. Their philosophies are consistent with their lifestyles. Which explains why some people joke that Libertarians are really Republicans who frequent nudist colonies and like to smoke pot.

Only it’s not all that simple. But then again, the unending game of politics never is.

Despite one’s political fealties, whether they be within one of our two major parties or they lie in a third party or are simply independent, at least all Americans, and more precisely put, US registered voters, share one thing in common — we’re all human. Sure, it sounds like a glib, syrupy, Kumbaya-sing along feel good cliché, but it’s an incredibly useful reminder every time we go for each other’s throats.

While such strife in of itself can be cathartic and even entertaining at times, and has ballooned into a multi-million dollar industry comprised of political analysts and pundits which purportedly open the door to dialogue on critical issues, the underlying divisiveness and polarization that keeps the book sales, documentary film revenue and advertising dollars pumping, tends to distracts us greatly from achieving our common goals to a number of problems, which aren’t impossible to solve.

And many of our goals are not that different from one political party or demographic to another. Many are actually are one and the same. It doesn’t matter our age or generational gap, the color of our skin, ethnic backgrounds, religious upbringings, or our nationalities and heritage. We all need to eat, sleep, drink, poop, pee, and constantly breathe the same air, though not necessarily in that order or all at the same time.

These inescapable necessities of life bring with them the issues of education, healthcare, energy, housing, food, sanitation, employment, the environment, and unfortunately (at least in most Libertarian’s eyes), government. All these issues and their seemingly countless intricacies and details beg to be tended to just about every day of our lives. Addressing them not only becomes our goals as Americans, but as humans across this planet.

What we have yet to bear in common is how to achieve these goals. Hence the disparate agendas of a primarily two party political system, which appears nothing short of an absolute duopoly that eerily teeters on the monarchial. Particularly when one considers the almost hereditary transfer of power within political families such as the John Adams and his son, the Harrisons, the Roosevelts, the Kennedys, Bush Sr & Bush Jr (not to mention lil’ brother Jeb), and the Clintons.

Fortunately, there are policies that provide the most effective and efficient means to address each of the issues that affect our lives the most. But unfortunately politics and their ensuing biases get in the way. As a result, the more optimal policies are rarely considered or even heard by the average working class American who earns $50K per year or less and believes power is completely out of their grasp. They understandably view politics and government as an elitist country club they wouldn’t join even if they were given a free, 30 day trial membership. Yet these are the people most adversely affected by the powers of those in Washington whose entire salaries, healthcare and even lifelong pensions, are funded by every taxpayer, many of whom struggle just to make ends meet.

But there are those who still hope “we’re all in this together” so to speak. And one would be hard pressed to find any politically conscientious voter of sound mind and body who would prefer to watch the country sink rather than swim solely because of politics. However, if we first concentrate and focus on our goals and commonalities which happen to outnumber our differences, the path to a mutually beneficial understanding and agreement becomes much shorter, and dare one also hope, meaningful.

And for anyone who takes the time to consider what both Democrats and Republicans are striving for, and realizes the strengths and weaknesses of each party’s philosophies, and most importantly the policies they advocate, one would realize that the Libertarian party focuses and offers the best of both parties and brings them together in a cohesive, consistent platform of policies, and some admitted ideologies, that in the end happen to be the least intrusive on people’s civil liberties and rights, as well as they’re wallets come tax time.

Nowadays Libertarians are becoming more and more visible in the news and entertainment, and with good reason. One need not even be a member of the party to appreciate and grasp the principles and logic of the party, and overall movement for that matter. There are actually many Democrats and Republicans who claim to be “Libertarian Democrats” and “Libertarian Republicans”.

These terms are becoming so commonplace they are specifically explained on sites such as Wikipedia. Among the openly “Libertarian Democrats” are comedian/actor Denis Leary, and even Mike Gravel one of the Democratic party’s most recent presidential candidates (who quite possibly lost some points when he publicly declared what a sham his party had become). Others such as actor/director Clint Eastwood, comedian Dennis Miller, and former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan consider themselves “Libertarian Republicans”.

When one looks at the commonalities between Democrats and Libertarians, as well as the similarities between Republicans and Libertarians, it’s understandable why so many Democrats and Republicans will every so often vote along Libertarian lines or even for official Libertarian candidates. But when one also understands where exactly Libertarians disagree with both Democrats and Republicans and why, one comes to the conclusion that maybe there is something to this party of curiously off beat quasi-Republicans who supposedly smoke pot in the nude.