Libertarian populism isn’t a governing ideology — it’s a swindle

[DonViejo]

Nobody should mistake liberal and conservative critiques of libertarian populism for defensiveness

BY BRIAN BEUTLER

If your ideas are under attack, it might be because they’re so good and persuasive that the interests they challenge are scared.

That’s how Conn Carroll of the Washington Examiner interprets cross ideological criticism of “libertarian populism” — a nebulous, nearly oxymoronic term adopted by conservative intellectuals who want to build a constituency for their beliefs by placing select and widely shared grievances with government at the center of their appeals to the masses.

Thus we hear a lot from libertarian populists about related issues like corporate welfare, special interest tax loopholes, incumbent rent-seeking and so on. The pitch is that these phenomena tend to disadvantage the poor and middle class, and that since government creates these problems, shrinking government would ipso facto benefit struggling people.

It’s a clever pitch, and I understand why its advocates think it could catch on. But nobody should mistake liberal and conservative critiques of libertarian populism for defensiveness. I can only speak for myself, but I assume others would agree that libertarian populism attracts so much attention from critics not because it’s a winning ideological agenda but because it’s a swindle.

There’s actually nothing new here. Libertarianism™ has always benefited from the fact that some of its precepts appeal to strange bedfellows. To the extent that pot legalization and sexual freedom are defined as libertarian ideas, a lot of young people will describe themselves as libertarians, even if they might more accurately be called libertines.

full article
http://www.salon.com/2013/08/09/libertarian_populism_isnt_a_governing_ideology_its_a_swindle/

[Jamaal510]

1. One thing

that should be noted more about what most Libertarians believe in regards to weed is that they don't really care so much about legalizing it nationally; they just want our current federal drug laws to quit being enforced. Notice that none of them have proposed any laws to actually legalize 420 on a federal level. They are fine with the Drug War being waged in individual states. It is a very common misconception that Libertarians like the Paul clan are so drug-friendly, when it is more about them pushing a States Rights agenda.