A Stitch in Haste

He wants you to think so:

Mr. Allen says he has "a libertarian sense." He describes himself as more in sync with Thomas Jefferson and Ronald Reagan than with George Bush. "I'm one who dislikes limits. I don't like restrictions. I like freedom. I like liberty. Unless you're harming someone else, you leave people free."

Let's check the record:

--Supports federal subsidies for tobacco farmers.

--Supports the flag-desecration amendment.

--Supports (albeit quietly) the Federal Marriage Amendment.

--Supports the war on drug users.

--Denounces "activist judges."

--Supports government subsidization of nanotechnology.

--Supports relaxing wiretapping rules.

That's a mighty high price to pay to get a repeal of the estate tax, which is the only unequivocally libertarian position he's taken, at least that I can find.

There are far worse candidates that the Republicans can put forward in 2008 than George Allen. But can they please not debase and defame the word "libertarian" in the process?

(Sources: Official George Allen website, On The Issues.)

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Speaking of "libertarian Republicans," did you know that there actually never was such a thing? No, instead there was only the "elitist Rockefeller business wing" --

Still, most conservatives felt that after the victory of Ronald Reagan and the Republican Revolution of 1994 their point was made and the country-clubbers would know their place. They were wrong. The Rockefeller wing is now attempting to reassert its control over the party and is openly hostile toward the Reagan populists who created the Republican majority in the first place.

We should be so lucky.

One thing's for sure, though: Nelson Rockefeller was no libertarian. Whether any Republican ever was, or can be now, is open to debate.