Why Libertarians should love Howard Dean 4

After a long article on the internet and intellectual property rights being "property", Doc Searls concludes -- As I write this, Democratic candidate Howard Dean just gathered his party's largest campaign fund for the most recent quarter. The mainstream press has acknowledged that most of this money came from fund-raising on the Internet. But they avoid visiting a fact that should be deeply troubling to every candidate running (and then governing) for money rather than for voters: Dean's lead is owed to a huge number of small donations, not to a small number of large special interests. If he's being bought, it's by his voters. This is a New Thing. It's also been made possible by the Net.

Daily Kos

Traditionally, libertarians have sided with the Republican Party because of economic issues, notions of "small government", and the ever-important 2nd Amendment (gun control). It seems libertarians always assumed the courts would continue to protect their private lives from government intrusion, regardless what the wingnuts tried to do.

But things have changed. The Clinton Democratic Party balanced budgets and restrained spending -- both policies abandoned by the Borrow and Spend Bush Administration. Bush and his cronies have embarked on a coordinated and wide-spread assault on individual freedoms, keynoted by the overbearing PATRIOT Act. And Bush's judges have shown consistent hostility to notions of individual liberty -- a trend likely to worsen as Bush nominates more judges to the bench.

It is obvious that on balance, personal freedoms are better protected by Democrats than Republicans. It's also obvious to me that Republicans have surrendered their claim to the monicker "Party of fiscal responsibility" or to notions of "smaller government".

That leaves guns, and it's a deal-breaker with many libertarians. Which is why I say, fine. You win. The NRA wins. We'll work hard to enforce existing gun laws (which in all honesty would go a long way toward reducing the effect of guns on our society). The feds will stay out of the debate, and leave it up to the states (and cities) to set their own gun laws.

That's why I like Dean and Clark -- both are avowed supporters of the 2nd Amendment, and both can go far in helping capture the significant libertarian bloc from the grasp of the GOP.


HOWARD DEAN & ME: A LIBERTARIAN'S CONFESSION: It is marginally painful physically to write this, sort of the same discomfort I felt yesterday when I realized that my new driver's license photo looks a bit like Scott Peterson after he was arrested. I never thought I'd see the day when I'd support a Democrat for president. This is not to say I am a Republican -- far from it. Readers of the now-seemingly-defunct El Blog Regular will note that I have written several anti-Bush posts. But I have never -- and still do not -- adhere to the labels liberal (except in the classical Lockean sense) and Democrat. Indeed, the linear conception of the political spectrum is outdated and obsolete. The cross-pattern model works much better, as Howard Dean demonstrates. So it is with some trepidation that I announce my support for Howard Dean for President in 2004. He addresses the right concerns and asks the right questions, and in the context of present conditions, has most of the right answers. I was never planning on voting for Bush, and the other Democratic candidates make me throw up in my mouth. So if Dean doesn't win the nomination, I don't know what I'll do. I may have to write-in my dad.

And a very small but new Yahoo Group.