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September 19, 2006

Use It or Lose It

In my day job, there's a strong diversity of opinions about everything. Really, I mean everything; we've got a guy who's against dams. Seriously, dams.
Predictably enough, this often leads to friendly, occasionally heated political debates on various topics and, aside from the question of dams, the office splits pretty evenly (on dams the dam guy is alone). Such was the case a couple of weeks ago when Isreal-Palestine-Hezzbollah-Lebanon conflict came up and I found myself on the side of the hawks. One of my bosses (in a company of six, everybody who's not the secretary is your boss) turned to me and said, "You campaigned for Kerry!?"

On one count, I can't help but sympathize with his consternation, Kerry, especially since the election, has come across like the loony lefty that he was portrayed during the campaign. Weak willed, mealy mouthed, and opportunistic in the worst way he's exhibited just about every negative quality associated with the word liberal. I still proudly call myself a liberal and I do my best to do so unironically (at times, yes, it's difficult). I was the only person on the campaign who was pro-war, I was easily the most adamant free trader and probably the only one who advocated shrinking the current government, as opposed to undoing everything Bush did and doubling it's size. But I wasn't blind to these differences during the campaign and, although some may claim I've made a deal with the devil by voting Democrat, I find the alternative infinitely less palatable.

On the campaign one phone conversation I had sticks out in my mind, I was on the phone with an ideological brother; after talking to this older gentleman for some time, I found that his ideological fault lines mirrored my own. He was libertarian. I was delighted to have him on the phone talking, and we both enjoyed the conversation (or so I'd like to think). At one point he said one thing he liked about Bush was that he cut taxes. I asked him if in the last three years his taxes had gone down. He said no.

Now I realize that that was somewhat opportunistic because, yes, Bush did cut taxes, but there's an issue at the heart of this that is still at the center of why I believe libertarians should vote Democrat this fall - accountability. No politician, even the most well meaning ever does everything they promise but if you elect a politician, and they must convince you that they have made a good faith effort to fulfill their promises. Bush told the middle class he cut their taxes and that, he did not do.

Libertarians who continue to vote Republican slavishly, and I claim voting in this election is voting slavishly, face a very real threat of disenfranchisement. The starkest example of the counter productivity of this behavior is the black vote. As voters black people tend to fall to the right on cultural issues, yet the Democratic Party is clearly far left on cultural issues, why doesn't such a large constituency have more sway? Because the black community has not held them accountable by abandoning Democratic candidates (at least not yet). Mostly because of an instinctive reaction against Republicanism. The same is true of libertarians; having grown accustomed to voting red, they are loath to change tack. They shoyuldn't be, this is a recipe for marginalization. If libertarians don't flex their muscle they'll lose it, which would be a shame for American politics.

In the last election the economist endorsed John Kerry for the presidency in an article entitled "The Incompetent Versus the Incoherent" and that's the crux of the choice that libertarians face this election; bet on a known loser or someone who you're not sure about. Doesn't seem like a call anyone would like to make, but that doesn't make it a tough call. I'm sure the specifics will get fleshed out ad nauseam in the coming months, I look forward to a healthy debate. Oh, and for the record, I'm pro dams.

Posted by conryf at September 19, 2006 02:01 PM

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Posted by: Anonymous at September 19, 2006 02:01 PM

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