Libertarians Are A Cheap Date

On an Independent Gay Forum commentary thread, I’m having an interesting discussion with some nice guys. We’re talking about whether the Republicans are serious about taking a turn toward libertarianism. The general consensus is that they aren’t, and I agree. I think they’re only flirting with us. We’re a cheap date.

Whichever of the two Tweedledee or Tweedledum parties is in charge – meaning in the White House – the “out” party always flirts with libertarianism. We see it now with the GOP, just as we did with the Democrats during the long, long, long eight years of the Dubya Bush Administration.

It sucks to have your own powerful, invasive, intrusive, oppressive government turned against you – and your own pocket picked to pay for it. Nobody likes that, regardless of ideology or party affiliation. But that does not make you a libertarian. People all want liberty for themselves. Libertarians, however, want it for everybody.

Is this because we’re simply more wonderful than everybody else? I’d like to think so, but I doubt it. I believe it’s because we’re neither Tweedledum nor Tweedledee – neither fish nor fowl – and so we’re a couple of steps removed from the major-party tug-of-war. We see it for the tragicomic soap opera that it really is. Those embroiled in it never see beyond the ends of their own noses.

Still something of a neophyte libertarian, I didn’t recognize this right away. I got a warm, fuzzy feeling in my tummy when the “progressives” cozied up to us during the Bush years. I fancied that they were actually beginning to see the light.

Then Obama was elected – an endeavor in which I helped. And those “progressives” morphed into a mass of groveling, shit-eating, throne-sniffing toadies. Just as the “conservatives” had been under Dubya.

Not that the Righties will admit this. They’re in a perpetual state of outrage about everything Obama does. I’ve come to agree that he’s been a grave disappointment as president. But the GOP’s flying monkeys couldn’t wait for him to fail. Had the Dems elected Jesus, this crowd would have crucified Him all over again.

And they’re libertarians now! Of course they are. Yeah…right. When they even thought Blow-up-Doll Romney was going to be elected in 2012, they couldn’t wait to shift back into toadying mode again.

Now I understand why longtime libertarians are so cynical about big-party throne-sniffers and their flirtations with us. They merely want to play around with us. We’re not the kind they take home to Mother.