[Dean's World] Ron Coleman: On the Brink of hysteria

[notify at powerblogs.com]

Posted by Ron Coleman:
On the Brink of hysteria
http://www.deanesmay.com/posts/1184100292.shtml


   In the hysterical sense. And in the Brink sense.

   [1]Glenn Reynolds links to [2]this long essay -- they're always so
   long, Brink! -- by my talented old college chum, Brink Lindsay. The
   concept is the "libertarian center," and Brink is sounding a
   completely reasonable theme: "Conservatives, come home! Liberals, move
   back from the ... brink!"

   The argument is fine as far as it goes, though it goes and goes --
   whenever someone links to Brink, he proves himself scan-proof as ever.
   But Brink takes it beyond where it ought to go, which is bedtime
   stories; for besides writing very long essays, libertarians have no
   future in this or any other country as a political force except along
   the margin. Sorry, Ron Paul. (Did I say Ron Paul?!) Part of it is
   their reveling in social non-traditionalism. I wonder (and now I am
   only thinking aloud) whether notwithstanding the fact that Americans
   act like godless Europeans when it comes to issues such as
   contraception and premarital cohabitation, they still don't want to
   admit to themselves that -- like "conservative" Sean Hannity savaging
   the Catholic Church when it doesn't go his way -- their use for
   traditional mores is a sort of spiritual balm they're not ready to
   abandon. Or, perhaps, we still want to be a little more good, and to
   recognize there is such a thing as good in society other than
   non-interference with other people, then the libertarians would like
   to believe?

   We can, and probably should, talk about these questions all day. But
   no matter how badly GWB wounds conservatives, they are not going away,
   and certainly not in order to make way for the libertarians as
   anything but a principled and needed voice in the mix. I'm pretty
   darned [3]libertarianish on economic policy issues, after all. But I
   believe an official policy of amorality is not what civilization is
   about.

   So what's the hysterical part? This line:

     I hope that nothing in this essay has conveyed even a hint of
     libertarian triumphalism. That would be just plain silly, as even
     the rosiest of tinted glasses cannot hide Leviathanâs many and
     egregious blunders and injustices.

   No, Brink, that's not why it would be plain silly. It would be silly
   because you have to triumph before you can be triumphalist, not merely
   like how you look in your armor.

References

   1. http://instapundit.com/archives2/007001.php
   2. http://www.cato-unbound.org/2007/07/09/brink-lindsey/the-libertarian-center/
   3. http://likelihoodofsuccess.com/2007/06/27/here-in-my-car/