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Title: The Libertarian Moment Is So Over That Libertarians Are Now The Single Largest Group: Gallup
Source:
Reason
URL Source: http://reason.com/blog/2016/03/08/t ... arian-moment-is-so-over-that-l
Published: Mar 9, 2016
Author: Nick Gillespie
Post Date: 2016-03-09 18:58:07 by Hondo68
Keywords: Ronald Reagan told Reason, very heart and soul of, conservatism is libertarianism
Views: 1127
Comments: 8
Don't mistake presidential races for broad-based changes in attitudes that will ultimately shape public policy.
Yeah, yeah, with the rise of Der Trumper and the ascendance of Ted Cruz to serious candidacy, the Libertarian Moment is deader than Nancy Reagan's dream of a drug-free America. Right?
Um, no.
In fact, as Cato's David Boaz has pointed out recently, the libertarian electorate is on the rise, according to Gallup's annual Governance survey from last fall. Gallup uses two questions to separate respondents into one of four categories: conservative, liberal, libertarian, and populist. The two questions are:
- Some people think the government is trying to do too many things that should be left to individuals and businesses. Others think that government should do more to solve our country’s problems. Which comes closer to your own view?
- Some people think the government should promote traditional values in our society. Others think the government should not favor any particular set of values. Which comes closer to your own view?
Gallup finds that libertarian voters (those who think the government is doing too much and should NOT favor any particular set of values) account for 27 percent of respondents, followed by conservatives (26 percent), liberals (23 percent), and populists (15 percent).
Boaz notes that 27 percent is the highest percentage recorded for libertarian sensibilities. In 2000, for instance, the figure was just 18 percent. So if libertarian sentiments are on the rise, then why are characters such as Trump, Cruz, and even Bernie Sanders doing so well? Boaz runs through various reasons, many of which involve the simple fact that neither the Republican nor Democratic Party does a decent job of representing libertarian values. If you take the two questions above equally serious, for instance, you couldn't in good conscience vote for any of the candidates running for president. And so we find ourselves in a situation where across many policy questions that define libertarianism—increasing immigration, say, or legalizing pot and gay marriage, deregulating business, and liberalizing gun laws—the country is becoming more and more libertarian even as the major political parties get more and more reactionary in their views.
As the Republican Party begins its great implosion (thank you for that, at least, Donald Trump), the question in front of us isn't why hasn't the GOP ever been as libertarian as its rhetoric (40 years ago, for god's sake, Ronald Reagan famously told Reason, "I believe the very heart and soul of conservatism is libertarianism"). It's whether the Republican Party will reconstitute itself along libertarian lines. If the party elders are serious about taking the party into the future, or even dragging it in the near-present, they should be breaking toward what Reason, founded in 1968, was calling "Free Minds and Free Markets" back when Reagan was still in his first term as governor of California.
Poster Comment:
The Ron Paul Revolution won the war against the progressive statist Republican and Democrat anti-constitutionalists, like Donald Trump and Ted Cruz. Once they finish their mission and lose the election, it's over for the Republicans.
The Real Fight in the GOP Is Between Authoritarianism and Libertarianism
Donald Trump and Ted Cruz vs. Rand Paul, Justin Amash, and Thomas Massie.
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27% wow that is really a majority, but with populist at 15% what accounts for the rise of Donald Dump
Replies to Comment # 1.
#2. To: paraclete, Trump PopTard, *Politics and Politicians* (#1)
with populist at 15% what accounts for the rise of Donald Dump
Liberal 23% + populist 15 = 38% Lib PopTard
38 is pretty close to the polls. It might get him nominated, but they'll switch to Bernie in the general election.
Trump and Hillary's negative numbers make it difficult for them to win. They're despised losers like Mitt and McCain, and Kerry.
#5. To: paraclete (#1)
27% wow that is really a majority, but with populist at 15% what accounts for the rise of Donald Dump
That's easy. People who have been abused by both parties who have had enough and want anyone that is not part of the elitist group running the show now. A person who will fight back and not wimp out as Trump has proven when fighting the MSM and both D and R elitism.
Its so easy its mind boggling that people don't get it.
Who out there is claiming to fight for the average joe? Who is claiming to fight against illegal aliens and radical Islam? Who says he will make American middle class workers first in his decision? Who claims he can get something done and not use the I did not have have enough votes so I felt it best to not even try.
OMG Trump wrote a new book on how to fight the elites of both parties and MSM at the same time and win! Its really simple. Stand up and fight! LOL
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