“Who’s a ‘real’ Democrat?” by Will May

by Ian | Sep 10, 2010 | 14 comments

Local Democrat Will May responds in the Keene Sentinel to the people trying to “out” Andrew Carroll as an “invader”:

There have a number of letters in the last month about libertarian Democrats, and how voters should “beware” of these candidates.

I am both amused and frustrated by these arguments.

The authors don’t seem to understand what the word “libertarian” actually means. Libertarians, for their information, want minimal government involvement in society. This means they generally oppose government intervention in the economy. They also oppose intervention in citizens’ private lives, as well as foreign wars of aggression.

If you’ll notice, this means that, though there may be times when they agree with conservatives, there are a considerable number of issues where libertarians naturally align with the left, including marijuana, gay rights, immigration, foreign policy, civil liberties, corporate welfare, and others. In fact, there are prominent libertarians, notably Will Wilkinson, arguing that libertarians should form a permanent alliance with liberals. This alliance has been branded “liberaltarianism,” and that’s exactly what some of us in Cheshire County have set out to do. (more…)