Noah Smith writes,
Libertarians: Only now, at the end, do you understand ...:
Given my history of critiquing libertarianism, it would hardly be surprising if I felt a flash of gleeful schadenfreude to see the dismay with which so many movement libertarians are reacting to the Koch takeover of the Cato Institute. But I don't. I just feel sad. Here are a bunch of smart people who truly, honestly believe in their worldview—a worldview that shares some key elements with my own—discovering for the first time that they are in fact merely a proxy army for people who don't take them or their worldview seriously at all.
To those of us outside the movement, the fact that libertarians are a proxy army has always been painfully obvious. The key piece of evidence was always the set of issues that libertarians chose to emphasize. Most Americans share the idea that civil liberties are good, war is to be avoided, and high taxes are bad. But the fact that our country's libertarian movement spent so much time fighting high taxes and so little time fighting the encroaching authoritarianism of conservative presidential administrations was a clear sign that some priorities were seriously out of place. ... The contrast between libertarians' continual jeremiads against taxes and their muted, intermittent criticism of things like warrantless wiretaps, executive detention, and torture was a huge tip-off that the movement was really just some kind of intellectual front for America's right wing.
The thing is, the soldiers in this proxy army didn't seem to realize they were a proxy army. [...] Now, however, they are beginning to understand [...]
How much did libertarians blind themselves to the true motivations of the people who were throwing money at them? We may never know. But it's certain that the blinders are off now. ...
Blast from the Past. At Daily Kos on this date in 2006:
Things continue to go "very, very well" in Iraq today. According to Reuters, 18 men were found blindfolded, bound, and strangled in Baghdad. In a separate incident, two other Iraqis were found bound and blindfolded, but shot execution-style. Another body found was decapitated. More civilians have also been killed as bombs once again erupt across Baghdad and Fallujah. Also, in recent developments, 50 workers at an Iraqi security firm have been seized.
The Australian Commander in Iraq is following Pace's lead and declaring that Iraq is merely going through an "awkward stage" (because whole families being slaughtered can be a bit awkward, you know?). Echoing Cheney, the Australian Commander claims the insurgency is "diminishing" and "in decline". Meanwhile, an American soldier was killed in a road bomb today, and four others were injured. The total number of American deaths so far is at least 2,304, with another 16,653 injured.
But, according to Defense Secretary Rumsfeld, this is all "exaggeration", a "steady stream of errors, [which] all seem to be of a nature to inflame the situation and to give heart to the terrorists."
Tweet of the Day:
My friend's dad played on a softball team with Rush Limbaugh in Sacramento. Said he throws like a slut.
— @LEBassett via web
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