From James Taranto’s “The Ugly Side of Libertarianism“:
- [David Bernstein] probably thinks of [libertarians] as cute little nerds who have basically sound (if somewhat extreme) ideas about economics along with various eccentric enthusiasms: private toll roads, pornography, drugs, head-freezing. This is the libertarian world of Reason magazine. (Disclosure: This columnist was an intern for Reason nearly two decades ago.)
But libertarianism is an ideology. Ideology can lead to fanaticism, and fanaticism to hatred. Check out the Independent Institute’s Web site (please note: not to be confused with the Independence Institute) or, even worse, Antiwar.com (sorry, we’re not linking), and you’ll find far libertarianism to be pretty much indistinguishable from the far left and the far right.
A couple of points: First, to all of you respectable libertarians who try so hard to impress the James Tarantos of the world, this is what they think of you. You’re harmless little dorks whose “extremist” views make no difference whatsoever. Congratulations.
Second, why no link to Antiwar.com? Are Taranto’s readers too delicate to handle today’s headlines? Let’s see: “Political Turmoil Leaves Iraq Adrift” (a story from the neo-Nazi LA Times), “Iraqi Politician Warns of ‘River of Blood'” (from Deutsche Presse-Agentur – Germans), “Prosecutor Links White House to CIA Leak” (by noted Islamofascists David E. Sanger and David Johnston), “US Pushed WMD Claim Despite Counter-Evidence” (a link to the Castro-owned Washington Post), etc. Yep, far-left and far-right extremism all around. And what about that viewpoint entitled “US Army Is Looking for a Few Good Rabbis“? Must be some rabid anti-Semitism there! Oh, wait, it’s about a rabbi who quit the US Army after being harassed by fundamentalist Christian chaplains; he’s now wanted on AWOL charges, despite the fact that his superiors told him he could leave.
We wouldn’t want James Taranto’s readers to learn about any of that, now would we?