I think the problem for American libertarians is that the two party system forces all of us to choose one party or the other to serve as a vehicle for our aspirations and commitments even though most of those aspirations will never be realized and those core commitments get compromised. That is the nature of a functioning liberal democracy.
There was a time when both major parties had liberals, moderates and conservatives and libertarians. Today we have a party with a "conservative" and reactionary wing and the other party is more and more becoming one with a progressive and socialist wing. Moderates (and libertarians) are becoming more and more marginalized. Just try to talk about rational immigration, free trade and free markets to most folks in either party these days and then duck and cover.
In Europe Bernie, AOC and Company would be in a different party from Schumer and Jeffries and probably have more actual power to actually shape legislation than they do here.
We function by recognizing that everyone has a stake in the governing enterprise and when we struggle to get the most of what we want while at the same time trimming what we see as the worst excesses of the opposition. We don't function when we simply think we should cancel out the opposition. With the end of the Cold War consensus and the Speakership of Newt Gingrich and his scorched earth war on the Democrats the unraveling began and so here we are today.
Now we have "Green New Deals" and "One Big Beautiful Bills" and significant legislation can only be passed through reconciliation so as to avoid having to actually avoid dealing with the other party and getting exactly what "we" want. No compromise---it's our way or the highway. With that sort of mentality a Donald Trump was inevitable it's just the political right got there first. Democrats talk of a future when they are in power and they plan to run roughshod over the Republicans.
Our entire governing order has been turned into a system of recrimination, retribution and revenge no matter who is in charge.
Joe Biden tried to govern by traditional norms and see where that got him. If you aren't blood thirsty enough they really just don't want you.
My own view of the failure of libertarians to offer resistance to Trump is that they did not want to be marginalized -- which is the same reason that conservatives have also largely surrendered to Trump. Deep down, libertarians know that they lose most of their influence if they don't form alliances with conservatives. Sure, they will criticize Trump -- but not too much.
The deepest political question is not which principles we defend, but whether we still remember why we created them.
"He [Trump] didn’t even bother to couch his agenda in some high-minded language."
I'd argue he's just incapable of high-minded thinking. PERIOD. He's a street-fighter. Look at how he ran his business.
I think the problem for American libertarians is that the two party system forces all of us to choose one party or the other to serve as a vehicle for our aspirations and commitments even though most of those aspirations will never be realized and those core commitments get compromised. That is the nature of a functioning liberal democracy.
There was a time when both major parties had liberals, moderates and conservatives and libertarians. Today we have a party with a "conservative" and reactionary wing and the other party is more and more becoming one with a progressive and socialist wing. Moderates (and libertarians) are becoming more and more marginalized. Just try to talk about rational immigration, free trade and free markets to most folks in either party these days and then duck and cover.
In Europe Bernie, AOC and Company would be in a different party from Schumer and Jeffries and probably have more actual power to actually shape legislation than they do here.
We function by recognizing that everyone has a stake in the governing enterprise and when we struggle to get the most of what we want while at the same time trimming what we see as the worst excesses of the opposition. We don't function when we simply think we should cancel out the opposition. With the end of the Cold War consensus and the Speakership of Newt Gingrich and his scorched earth war on the Democrats the unraveling began and so here we are today.
Now we have "Green New Deals" and "One Big Beautiful Bills" and significant legislation can only be passed through reconciliation so as to avoid having to actually avoid dealing with the other party and getting exactly what "we" want. No compromise---it's our way or the highway. With that sort of mentality a Donald Trump was inevitable it's just the political right got there first. Democrats talk of a future when they are in power and they plan to run roughshod over the Republicans.
Our entire governing order has been turned into a system of recrimination, retribution and revenge no matter who is in charge.
Joe Biden tried to govern by traditional norms and see where that got him. If you aren't blood thirsty enough they really just don't want you.
My own view of the failure of libertarians to offer resistance to Trump is that they did not want to be marginalized -- which is the same reason that conservatives have also largely surrendered to Trump. Deep down, libertarians know that they lose most of their influence if they don't form alliances with conservatives. Sure, they will criticize Trump -- but not too much.