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November 2, 2008
Libertarians on why they support Barack Obama
If you only read or watched the mainstream media, you'd come away with the impression that every person is either "liberal" or "conservative," and that those words mean the same to all who would claim them. Of course, since you're reading this humble blog, it's likely you've run across much better sources of the notion that the world of political ideas, even in this homogeneous land, is a many-faceted place.
Libertarian philosophy, like any good set of ideas, has a diverse group of adherents. There are far-right libertarians, far-left libertarians (yes, it's true), and plenty who fall somewhere in between on the X axis, but who all share a position somewhere north of it.
Due to the dominance of two major political parties in the U.S., many libertarians find themselves (usually somewhat reluctantly) hanging around the edges of one or the other. Just look at a couple of bygone candidates for President in this cycle. Former U.S. Senator Mike Gravel first ran as a Democrat, but later sought the Libertarian Party's nomination. U.S. Representative Ron Paul ran in the GOP primary, and is elected to Congress as a Republican, but just about everybody knows that he's a libertarian.
Jon Wright is a Middle Tennessee blogger, a hard-left libertarian, and a Buddhist, and he voted for U.S. Senator Barack Obama in this year's presidential election.
But from there -- we look at Barack Obama, and we see -- well, something different. First and foremost -- intelligence, intelligence, intelligence. For the first time in my life, we have a candidate who I want to have a beer with....And when you combine this with his demonstrated ability to communicate, to connect, to motivate and inspire -- what you have is, to quote Bill Richardson, "the kind of once-in-a-lifetime leader that can bring our nation together and restore America's moral leadership in the world".
John Hawbaker is a Southeast Tennessee blogger, a center-right libertarian, and a Christian, and he voted for U.S. Senator Barack Obama in this year's presidential election.
A true intellectual in the best sense of the word, Barack Obama is highly intelligent, curious and thoughtfully deliberate....Simply put, I believe Barack Obama will prove a more skilled diplomat and will preside over a more reasoned, thoughtful approach to foreign relations than would John McCain. And to return for a moment to his biography, the simple act of electing Obama will have a dramatic impact on how the world perceives our nation.
Make sure to read each post above in full, as I only copied excerpts that were similar between the two. You'll find plenty that differs as well. Each writer comes to his conclusion through a process of -- gasp -- actually thinking things through and choosing what he feels is the best, albeit imperfect, option. Even if you disagree with both of them, you have to respect their methods.
Despite the fact that neither Wright nor Hawbaker mentioned it specifically, a leading cause for libertarians and their ilk to support Barack Obama is their shared position on the country's involvement in Iraq. Obama famously opposed authorizing the President to send troops before he was yet in Congress. Most of the major candidates in the 2008 election cycle supported the war; several were Senators who directly voted to start it.
Even though Obama is not a libertarian, it is interesting that he has drawn at least modest numbers of them to his cause.
Presidential Elections | By joe lance | 10:19 AM
Comments
I expect that if the bloggers you mentioned look deep into themselves, they mya not libertarians after all.
Truth hurts, sometimes.
Posted by: mickey at November 2, 2008 10:35 AM
When intelligent Libertarians examine Barack Obama, they see his high intelligence and intellect as an asset, conducive to rational [libertarian-style] thinking.
Combined with his background as a civil rights lawyer and constitutional law professor who is favorable to voluntary, free community organization, and who as a Senator, took a daring stand against the Iraq War ? it becomes easy to see that Barack Obama is more ?libertarian? than not.
McCain is highly ?pro-war? which would mean at least another four ?Bush Years? of endless billion dollar [war] occupations, plus more BIG GOVERNMENT SPENDING, ?taxes-from-the-middle-class-to-finance-wealthy-tax-cuts? and ?socialized? corporate profits/bailouts with little, if any ?trickle down? effect of job growth which, by the way, has NOT happened in spite of Bush?s tax cuts provided to big corporations and the Warren Buffet wealthy.
By voting for Bob Barr, it would be a truly dangerous wasted vote this year, after all he?s NOT going to win. ?Wasted Votes? and [conservative] Libertarians who voted for Bush, helped Bush win two terms.
Obama is the best [major] candidate to work on four top libertarian reforms:
1) Iraq withdrawal
2) restoring the separation of church and state
3) easing off victimless crimes such as drug use
4) curtailing the Patriot Act.
Libertarians living in the real world know that only Obama or McCain can actually win. And in that real world, Bob Barr is an ex-CIA Republican and on that basis he is questionable as being truly ?Libertarian?.
Because Bob Barr spend most of his political career as a rather right-wing conservative Republican, many long-time Libertarians don?t see him as a ?true? Libertarian but some sort of right-wing conservative Republican infiltrator.
With a history of hostile right-wing conservative Republicans infiltrating the Libertarian Party over the years, they have pushed out long-time, true Libertarians and founders.
This hostile LP take-over by conservative Republicans is not easily forgotten ? and well, as a backlash ? I can see a lot of Libertarians wanting to get Republicans out of power.
And the best way to do this is by voting for Obama and a straight Democratic ticket.
Posted by: Libertarians For Barack Obama at November 3, 2008 2:23 AM
I expect that if the bloggers you mentioned look deep into themselves, they mya not libertarians after all.
Or they may have a deeper and more sophisticated understanding of libertarianism that goes beyond "guns good, taxes bad". Truth hurts, sometimes.
---
It is interesting that Obama's intelligence seems to be the common thread among his libertarian supporters. I think libertarians are a bit like the nuclear physicists of political science, with our devotion to deriving positions by rationally working through from first-principles at the foundation of a cohesive model.
Left-libertarians of course are the quantum and string theorists of the bunch ;)
Posted by: Jon at November 3, 2008 10:48 AM
Very interesting discussion! Thanks for bringing all of these ideas and people together, Joe.
Posted by: alice at November 3, 2008 11:11 AM