The time's a-coming

[Via Will at Crescat, ultimately.]

These days, few things exercise me enough to post here, and this is one of them.

For too long, Republicans promised smaller government and less intrusion in people?s lives. Yet with a government dominated top to bottom by Republicans, we?ve seen the exact opposite. No one will ever mistake a Democrat of just about any stripe for a doctrinaire libertarian. But we?ve seen that one party is now committed to subverting individual freedoms, while the other is growing increasingly comfortable with moving in a new direction, one in which restrained government, fiscal responsibility and?most important of all?individual freedoms are paramount.

This is from Markos "Daily KOS" Moulitsas's essay in Cato Unbound: The Case for the Libertarian Democrat. Ilya Somin endorses the point at The Volokh Conspiracy, and corrects some of Moulitsas's outsized congratulatory tone. Somin stresses three platform issues that I can wholeheartedly support: cut corporate welfare, embrace a principled federalism (and, I would add, a principled localism), and ditch the "war on drugs."

I only want to stress that this is not the first time that the liberal-libertarian alliance has been proposed in these pages screens. And we mustn't forget Belle Waring's plea nearly two years ago (around the time of another election, remember?).

Look at me, reliable Democratic voter! I support 2nd amendment rights, think drugs should be legalized, support means testing of social security, and think running permanent trillion-dollar deficits is a bad idea. What's more, I favor the elimination of all agricultural and industrial subsidies! And free trade! And abortion rights! I think people should be allowed to form unions, and also not form unions. ... I think market-based solutions to environmental problems, such as pollution credits, can be great, in the context of stern enforcement of existing environmental protections. I don't think the feds should subsidize grazing, logging, or mining on government-owned lands. I favor innovative traffic-mitigation schemes involving variable road pricing! Ooh, ooh, and I think prostitution and gambling should be legal! And I love gay marriage! Come here, gay marriage, I'm going to give you a big wet kiss. And the firm separation of church and state! But I don't support hate crime laws. Nor do I think the government should force private businesses to hire homosexuals if they don't want to, because they are gay-hating nuts or something!

My take on libertarian-courting is more abstract, though. There is a real genetic link between liberals of different stripes—whether 'classical' or 'new'—that makes a family reunion long overdue. We appeal to the same figures, and mostly to the same principles. (Except for the Objectivists. They're just weird.)

Sure, some stray pseudo-socialist fringe wants to make 'solidarity' or 'compassion,' not individual liberty, the slogans of contemporary liberalism. Liberals should then see their appeal to libertarians not only as a way to cleanse the country of crazy-cons, but also to cleanse themselves of the illiberal detritus accumulated over a century of compromise with socialism. With principle and expediency aligned, there's never been a better time.