Menzies House

The Life, Soul, and Future of the Party: Why Libertarians are Unwise to Shun the GOP

Libertarians may be the future of the Republican Party, writes Dan Whitfield.

In November 2008, it wasn’t only the Democrats who cheered as the Republican Party suffered electoral catastrophe.  Across the country, pockets of people huddled around TVs and computer screens, celebrating the defeat of John McCain, and scores of other Republicans lower down the ticket.  They were the libertarians.

Strangely, 2008 was a good year for the defenders of liberty.  This may sound ludicrous, given that the hard-left won control of both Congress and the White House, but the global economic downturn spurred a rapid mobilization of libertarian activists dedicated to paring back the power of government.  The two major political parties had easily dismissed the libertarians as a radical fringe, but with profligate congressional spending reaching record levels, large numbers of people were drawn to the banner of liberty.

Why illegal drugs should be legalized

The war on drugs is an enemy of civil liberties, writes Sukrit Sabhlok.

John Stuart Mill’s classic work, On Liberty, examines “the nature and limits of the power which can be legitimately exercised by society over the individual” and concludes: “The only freedom which deserves the name is that of pursuing our own good in our own way, so long as we do not attempt to deprive others of theirs, or impede their efforts to obtain it.”
 
In a democracy, however, the tyranny of the majority often tramples individual freedoms. If 51% of the people agree on a proposed measure that is oppressive towards some minority, in the absence of any constitutional limitation, that measure will become the law of the land.
 

What has happened to the moderates?

People like to know clearly where a politician stands ideologically, writes Chris Doig.
 

They go by many names: moderates, wets, the liberal left, swathes of the media erroneously call them liberals (as opposed to conservatives) and so on. Where are they now?

We have seen that moderates without a consistent message or underlying intellectual theme have not had a great deal of success in recent times. Malcolm Turnbull, who seemed to spend most of his time arguing over the official size of a small business and the inclusion of agricultural emissions in the ETS, was replaced by the loud, great-big-new-tax-opposing Tony Abbott. David Cameron, the man behind the Green Investment Bank and financial taxes, only scraped through the UK elections despite his monumental lead over Brown a year earlier. Moderate Republicans are facing increasing pressure from the Tea Party movement. And regardless of what you think of Ron Paul, there is no doubt that he has energised a great number of people.
 

The Crown: rationally and logically better

Retaining the Crown at the heart of our constitutional system of government is the proper libertarian-conservative fusionist position, argues Nicholas Tam.
 
In his advocacy for liberal republicanism, Keith Topolski nauseatingly invokes multiculturalism amongst the tiresome set of clichés and platitudes that have come to typify the republican movement. What his vacuous rhetoric and legally illiterate counter-model fails to recognise, however, is the extent to which constitutional monarchy coheres philosophically with conservatism and libertarian or “fusionist” strands of political thought.
 

A Podcast for all the fans

Given that Tim's taken the job of weekly linkmaster, I've decided to throw my own personal love into the fray, and that is the EconTalk podcasts containing Mike Munger. Mike's the head of Political Science at Duke University and is absolutely brilliant.

If you've got iTunes this should open straight up and you can get into it. My favourites thus far are on the Division of Labour, Price Gouging, Cultural Norms and Private vs Public risk-taking.

Mike Munger iTunes U Podcasts

If you have a love of or even a fleeting interest in Economics, it's like economics in one lesson for your MP3 player. Commenters, if you know any other good podcasts, please share!

Dan Nolan is an Engineering student at the University of New South Wales, and when he's not busy overindulging in the student life he spends his time explaining economics to anyone who'll listen.

The new paradigm for the centre right

The centre right should begin to advocate for a more civil society, writes Sean Garman.

One of the great struggles that the centre-right has is the conflicting beliefs among members. Indeed, we have on this forum Libertarians, Progressive Liberals and Conservatives. However, the labels do not accurately cover everyone. Within this mix come different views which can provide for some tough and uncompromising arguments. In this article, I will try to offer a new paradigm of thought that encompasses many of the different virtues within centre-right factions.

Libertarian and Conservative Controversies: Revisiting the Traditionalist v Individualist Debates

Conservatives and libertarians can learn from revisiting past debates, writes Will Church.

Much can be learned from revisiting past debates. This being most pertinent when parallels can be drawn with current debate. In my time as a member of the youth wing of the Australian Liberal Party I’ve been both spectator and participant in many debates taking place at the fault line of the party’s conservative/classical-liberal divide.

So, You Think You're a Libertarian?

Some of our readers fancy themselves as libertarians. But are you really? Take Bryan Caplan's Libertarian Purity Test and find out! And heck, take it even if you don't consider yourself a libertarian - you might be surprised by the results!

(This particular Menzies House editor scored an even 100 out of a possible 160...)