When we left you, gentle reader, the Democrats were on the verge of capturing Congress. They ended up
In the interim, lots of us started different sites. I started a blog, Last Free Voice, that I ended up bequeathing to other editors there about two years after HoT went down. The Ron Paul phenomenon happened-and what a phenomenon! And, whether we’re ready for it or not, libertarianism as a political ideology looks like it has a real chance of influencing the government of this country in a way that’s never been true before.
Because of that, I should specify who I am and what I stand for for those who don’t remember. Back on the old HoT, I was part of the Libertarian Reform Caucus, arguing for a broader, more inclusive Libertarian Party. I was a left-libertarian. And if anything, I’ve only become moreso as time’s gone on. I didn’t vote in 2008 but I was glad Obama won. I don’t always agree with what the Democrats are doing, but I appreciate that their solutions, right or wrong, are based on empirical facts while the GOP’s seem to be based on ideology.
If anything, I want libertarianism to be the same way. Our ideology, our movement has always been an intellectual one, an empirical one. It was classical liberals, the original libertarians, that came up with utilitarianism. Reagan only led the “party of ideas” in the 80s because he was using our ideas. But that’s not what I see when I look at parts of the broader movement today. I see a movement hijacked by corporations shouting slogans and commingling with some truly un-libertarian elements in the service of ideologies that have no root in the observable world or reason.
Furthermore, I’m not the only one that feels this way. Left-libertarians have sort of been drowned out by the very noticeable phenomenon that is the tea parties, but there are more than a few of us that feel this way. Those people are libertarians as surely as anyone else claiming the label, and I’d like to represent and expound on their point of view as I write here once more. I’ll try not to bore anyone by wonking out all the time, but I think I can add something to HoT.
Lastly… I’m really, really excited to be back. I’ve missed this place. I even missed the conspiracy theorists. Sup guys. :D
sucker, ʟʟᴄ