Political Rants

Libertarianism vs. Neo-Conservatism Posted: 22 Sep 2008 04:25 PM CDT I’ve heard a couple of people I know on the right describe their beliefs as “Libertarian”, but the policies they support seem to me to be a lot closer to Neo-Conservatism. So I decided to make a chart, so people know the difference: · Libertarians are uber-doves. Neo-Cons are uber-hawks. · Libertarians fear our government. Neo-Cons fear foreign governments. · Libertarians are for isolationism. Neo-Cons are for expanding the empire. · Libertarians were against the Second World War. Neo-Cons blame the Left for losing the Vietnam War. · Libertarians are for getting out of Iraq and Afghanistan. Neo-Cons are for going into Iran and Georgia. · Libertarians are obsessed with civil liberties. Neo-Cons are obsessed with demonizing Communism, despite the fact that their intellectual father, Irving Kristol, was a former Trotskyist. · Libertarians inherited their tolerance for sexual taboos from Robert Heinlein and the Beat movement. Neo-Cons are 60s reactionaries who believe homosexuality and pornography brought down the Roman Empire. · Libertarians are for ending the war on drugs. Neo-Cons believe the border patrol should shoot Mexican drug smugglers on sight to protect inflated drug prices so that they can be used to fund illegal wars in Nicaragua or support Afghani poppy-growers. · Libertarians are against sending foreign aid to Israel. Neo-Cons are for destroying any probable future threat to Israel. · Libertarians are for completely opening the borders. Neo-Cons are for building a giant wall along the border and financing a mass relocation of illegal aliens. · Libertarians believe it should be legal to burn the flag. Neo-Cons believe it's un-American to not wear a flag pin made in China. · Libertarians follow the Austrian school of economics based on Carl Menger's Prinicples of Economics. Neo-Cons follow the trickle-down economics based on a line graph Arthur Laffer scribbled on a napkin for Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld. · Libertarians are hard-line economic Darwinists who would allow the banks to fail despite the financial consequences. Neo-Cons are corporate socialists who want to bail out all of Wall Street but allow the intensive deregulation that caused it to continue unabated. “[Conservatism] is so influenced by business culture and by business modes of thinking that it lacks any political imagination, which has always been, I have to say, a property of the Left…. What’s the point of being the greatest, most powerful nation in the world and not having an imperial role? It’s unheard of in human history. The most powerful nation always had an imperial role…. [Previous empires were not] capitalist democracies with a strong emphasis on economic growth and economic prosperity…. It’s too bad, I think it would be natural for the United States… to play a far more dominant role in world affairs. Not what we’re doing now but to command and to give orders as to what is to be done. People need that. There are many parts of the world—Africa in particular—where an authority willing to use troops can make a very good difference, a healthy difference…. [But with public discussion dominated by accountants] there’s the Republican Party tying itself into knots. Over what? Prescriptions for elderly people? Who gives a damn? I think it’s disgusting that… presidential politics of the most important country in the world should revolve around prescriptions for elderly people. Future historians will find this very hard to believe. It’s not Athens. It’s not Rome. It’s not anything.” -Irving Kristol, Father of Neo-Conservatism and William Kristol Recent Interview With McCain on 60 Minutes: Pelley: “In 1999 you were one of the senators who helped pass deregulation of Wall Street. Do you regret that now?” McCain: “No, I think the deregulation was probably helpful to the growth of our economy.” http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/22/opinion/22krugman.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

You are subscribed to email updates from Political Rants To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now.	Email Delivery powered by FeedBurner
Inbox too full? Subscribe to the feed version of Political Rants in a feed reader.
If you prefer to unsubscribe via postal mail, write to: Political Rants, c/o FeedBurner, 20 W Kinzie, 9th Floor, Chicago IL USA 60610