QandO

August 19, 2004

NeoLibertarianism
Posted by Jon Henke

Kenneth Silber, refusing to stick with a perfectly good label--Neolibertarian--, comes up with proposes the name Fusionist for libertarian.conservatives...

Like the man who's surprised to learn he's been speaking prose all his life, the fusionist is a political category whose members may operate without much awareness of their label. Fusionism is the idea, named and developed decades ago by Frank Meyer of National Review, that conservatism and libertarianism share a common agenda. Thus, the fusionist believes that conservatives and libertarians ought to be allies -- and indeed that their respective philosophies are largely or essentially combinable into a coherent body of thought.
[...]
Fusionism has had a difficult time of it, politically and intellectually, in recent years. Libertarian and conservative magazines routinely run articles denouncing each other. Divisions are rife on a long list of issues: government spending, faith-based programs, gay marriage, abortion, the Patriot Act, the Iraq War, and more. The Cold War, a unifying cause for conservatives and libertarians, is long over. Celebrants of Reagan's legacy include mutually antagonistic factions that once were part of his coalition.

Does fusionism have a future? I believe it does. For one thing, the publication you are now reading has a distinctly fusionist coloration. Moreover, "libertarian conservative" (unlike "promiscuous celibate") is in fact coherent. It describes someone who thinks libertarian institutions are worth conserving (and that a country embracing such institutions is worth defending). It implies a consistency in advocating both social and economic freedoms, and a recognition that both types of freedoms require responsibility and virtue.

1. "The extremes cannot hold."
2. "The center has changed."
3. "Liberalism has become more authoritarian."

All three, I think, have merit, and there seems a clear opportunity for pragmatic libertarians to make mainstream in-roads. Of course, for that to happen, libertarians need to get a lot better at politics. They care a great deal about their own particular principles. They don't really care that much about being elected. And then they whine a great deal when they find themselves without any serious political power.

I don't mind the principle thing. I don't mind that they don't care about being
elected. But it drives me nuts that they run off the cliff, flag flying high,
and then bitch about the fall.

Note: Neolibertarian - spread the term. And if somebody wants to organize a Neolibertarian League of bloggers....well, count us in.

UPDATE: Rusty Shackleford at MyPetJawa adds some interesting thoughts.

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