Fellow historian and TPM Reader BA thinks I’m cutting conventional libertarians a bit too much slack on how deeply the ‘neo-Confederate’ stain goes in the movement. I don’t fully agree with the argument. I think there are a lot of libertarians who have the sort of philosophy I noted. But he’s right and could have said even more about how much the ‘clean’ libertarian movement for lack of a better word has courted and interwoven with these noxious folks …
While I think your forthright denunciation of neo-Confederates as racists, plain and simple, is on the mark and valuable, the sharp division you attempt to draw between such people and “philosophical” libertarians is based on little evidence. I understand the desire to see people at the Cato Institute as “philosophically consistent, [not] basically about race but … a form or what I’d call hyper-individualism. Not my cup of tea but a perfectly legitimate political movement.” Being able to have civil, political discussions with those with whom one disagrees is important. Worthy political opponents are, in general, a good thing.
Pope makes new laws criminalizing sexual violence/abuse, child porn and prostitution in the Vatican city state.
Pelosi calls Boehner’s struggle to get immigration reform through the House “their usual amateur hour.”
