This cognitive non-dissonance was in full flower at last weekend's CPAC convention, where Ron Paul walked away with the balloon. Oddly, one person who does get it is Mike Huckabee. You could say it's just sour grapes from a man who scarcely ever gets out of single digits at the CPAC convention or elsewhere. But here's Huckabee saying "CPAC has becoming increasingly more libertarian and less Republican over the last years." Exactly so, and amazing how rare this voice is. Ironic also to see it coming from a rather nice man who fronts for such an unpleasant doctrine, criticizing a much less appealing human whose platform on the whole makes a lot more sense.
Monday, February 22, 2010
Mike Huckabee Gets It
You'd think I'd get over it but for some reason I continue to marvel at that alliance of seeming opposites that we observe in the union of the libertarian and the authoritarion wings of the the Republican party. Sure all parties harbor strange unions, and the enemy of my enemy is my friend. But I think there is something more to it than that. Self-professed libertarians seem genuinely not to observe any inconsistency when they howl for freedom while cheerfully sticking their nose into the lives and under the blankets of others. The best comparison I can find is to recall the ease with which Confederate slaveholders or Polish aristocrats used to beat their breasts in the good cause while standing on the face of others.
This cognitive non-dissonance was in full flower at last weekend's CPAC convention, where Ron Paul walked away with the balloon. Oddly, one person who does get it is Mike Huckabee. You could say it's just sour grapes from a man who scarcely ever gets out of single digits at the CPAC convention or elsewhere. But here's Huckabee saying "CPAC has becoming increasingly more libertarian and less Republican over the last years." Exactly so, and amazing how rare this voice is. Ironic also to see it coming from a rather nice man who fronts for such an unpleasant doctrine, criticizing a much less appealing human whose platform on the whole makes a lot more sense.
This cognitive non-dissonance was in full flower at last weekend's CPAC convention, where Ron Paul walked away with the balloon. Oddly, one person who does get it is Mike Huckabee. You could say it's just sour grapes from a man who scarcely ever gets out of single digits at the CPAC convention or elsewhere. But here's Huckabee saying "CPAC has becoming increasingly more libertarian and less Republican over the last years." Exactly so, and amazing how rare this voice is. Ironic also to see it coming from a rather nice man who fronts for such an unpleasant doctrine, criticizing a much less appealing human whose platform on the whole makes a lot more sense.
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4 comments:
How do libertarians stick their noses in other people's lives?
I'm not sure you understand what libertarianism is if you're able to make a statement like that. Libertarians want primarily to both be left alone and to leave others alone.
DrewJ
Unless you have $3 million in the bank (and everybody you care about does too) then social insurance is really important. Taking the safety net away is hardly being left alone.
Huckabee is the guy who also said this: "The greatest threat to classic Republicanism is not liberalism; it's this new brand of libertarianism, which is social liberalism and economic conservatism, but it's a heartless, callous, soulless type of economic conservatism ..."
I think people misunderstand Huckabee. When he says he is against libertarianism, I think he means BIG L. Many who listen to his fiscal ideas would call him a libertarian small l.
He also cited as a major irritation the fact that he felt it was "pay to play."
Hopefully we get a clarification, because Huckabee needs to be more lucid in his disparaging remarks. The fact that people actually think he is a "big government republican" should give him pause before making simplistic statements that may unintentionally alienate those he has been trying to mend relationships with.
Huckabee has always been and will always be a hard candidate to pin down. He is an expert politician who can appear to be a moderate and a hardliner simultaneously without seeming like a politician. Such is a necessity for surviving the political climate h came from, Arkansas is unique ideologically... it is a breeding ground for presidential candidates. It should be no surprise that Huckabee and Clinton share many of the same qualities and have many of the same detractors.
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