Political Migration

It's been a while since I've written a post, and there is good reason for it. I've been substantially reconsidering my political philosphy and attempting to find a home friendly to my political views. It's been a disturbing journey, but well worth the trip. I hope by sharing it with you that you might find we have something in common.

In 2004, for the first time in my adult life, I didn't vote. I found myself deeply ambivalent about the Iraq war, believing that freeing the Iraqi people from the tyrranical rule of that jackbooted thug, Sadaam Hussein, was a good thing and that the possibility of him having any kind of WMD was terrifying. Yet, at the same time, I believed that we would also fail in our attempt to instill democracy in their society from without. I was also nagged by the question, "Who the hell do we think we are, trapsing around the world, flexing our muscles and sticking our nose in places that aren't threats to us?" And I didn't just mean Iraq. Our presence and adventures in South Korea, Vietnam, the Philipines, Europe, Latin America, Eastern Europe and other places seemed to be deeply resented. The only legitimate exercise of our force seemed to have been WWII, fighting an existential threat to our freedom, and surprise, the after-war consequences had a good effect on freedom, while the others were abject failures, or very limited, short term or half-baked successes. The world seemed to perceive them through the lens of imperial impulse, despite our earnest attempts to position them as fights for freedom.

Nonetheless, I supported the Iraqi invasion because I figured it would be best for the Iraqi people and that the world was surely a safer and better place without Saddam. But then I began to see how we blundered at almost every turn, how it seemed we were failing in every attempt to "win" the war. It seemed that the law of unintended consequences was writ large in the sands of Iraq. I then noticed that we had somehow become caught up in the inevitability of our involvement, that all conversation about leaving was somehow unpatriotic and weak, ultimately a sign of U.S. impotence. I began to ask myself if I thought one American life was worth achieving our objectives in Iraq. The resounding answer was, and is, NO.

I found myself facing a profound dilemma. The right seemed to me not only obsessed with the Iraq war, but also pushing ever bigger government, the christian faith and an authoritarian government that was encroaching farther and farther on my life in numerous ways. These tendencies seemed to me to fly in the face of what I believed the legitimate role of the federal government to be. I used to think the right believed that individual freedom was the most important principal of our country, that goverment was to exert its power in very limited, enumerated areas. Clearly that path had long been abandoned, if it had ever been hewed to, by those nasty hypocritical, bloviating fuckers. I had never been comfortable with the right, the "family values" bullshit and just the whole vibe of them. Righteous, reactionary (in the true meaning of the word - if you don't know it, look it up), close minded - uggh. I mean the Republican convention looked like a bunch of hardware store-owning Shriners. I'm a writer, musician, atheist, objectivist and hedonist who thinks that the pursuit of happiness is anything I damn well please to do as long as I'm not encroaching on someone else's rights. I'd quit the Republican party in '05 after years of voting for them while holding my nose. No more would I give them any of my support. I'd rather write-in Wiley Coyote than vote for those jack-offs. I think you get my point by now, so I'll stop my rant.

Not that the left was attractive, in fact I find them even more repugnant then the right, due to their complete abandonment of capitalim, full-on socialist, progressive, nanny-state agenda, reflexive criticisms of the U.S. and their feckless, double talking con artist crap. Oh yeah, they also generally strike me as a bunch of pussies who willingly sacrifice their freedom for the cheap gratification of feeling superior to everyone else due to their boundless "compassion" for every victim group that they can dream up. It doesn't help that, as a white man making six figures, I am, apparently, the cause of all evil in the world. Their double standard stance on so many issues is sickening. Just look at what that cretin Clinton did. If they couldn't admit he committed the most glaring incident of sexual harrassment in the history of the White House, I mean then what legitimacy do their views have? In the private sector if you just write an email that suggests an impropriety to someone who works for you, you are very likely to be fired, forget getting blowjobs from a subordinate in your office. And Hilary? I've never seen a more craven, vicious, phony on the stump. If she gets into power, I may have to move to Estonia.

What to do, what to do? I'd previously rejected the libertarians because they seem to have so many raving, crazy idiots in their ranks that I couldn't in good conscience associate myself with them. But the more I checked out the underlying libertarian philosphy, the more I found them making sense. I had to, and continue to, ignore the anarchist bent of some of them but in general I'm down with the "LP". Here's why:

1. They get that everything goverment does via law, it does ultimately by the threat of, or outright use of force. And therefore, we should let it do very little.
2. They understand the intrinsic relationship between freedom and the right to own property. Just think for one moment, please. If private people don't own property, then who will? The government? They are well on their way to taking a majority of the wealth and property in our country and that is a sure way to enslave us to government.
3. They have no "social good" agenda. If you want to whore, smoke, gamble, drug, philander, lay around and not work - do whatever it is you feel like doing - it's just none of the government's damn business. Oh yeah, just don't ask me to pay for it.
4. They think we should radically reduce the police state we have built. It's not just the gun toters but the faceless, slackjawed bureaucrats who rob us of our property and freedom every single day. Let's disarm and fire most of them. Why should we grant so many people a government sinecure just so they can harrass us?
5. They think the only legitimate foreign policy is to defend our country and people. The rest of it is just none of our business and in many ways, uncontitutional. Get out of the U.N., treaties, trade deals, pull our troops home and, oh yeah, keep the baddest assed military around to discourage any country or group from messing with us, and if they do attack us, obliterate them.
6. Their governing philosophy is based on reason, not magical thinking (like believing in a God that there is no evidence of, for example, or at least gov't doing anything because of this belief). It's very compatible with an Objectivist world view, which I subscribe to.

I could go on, but if any of this interests you, just do a web search on the Libertarians and you'll find out all you need to know. You might want to check out the Objectivists too.

So what does that mean for my posittions? Well, I certainly think we should leave Iraq immediately. I'm against nationalized health care, for drug legalization, retroactively, freeing half our prison population. And so, so much more. My blog posts from now on will focus on the Libertarian solution to problems. I hope you enjoy them.

Best,

Glenn