Is American libertarianism dead?
If so, does it haunt us still?
Over at the Monkey Cage, guest blogger — and political theoriest — Steven Kelts is kicking off a series of posts on whether American libertarianism is finally relinquishing its three decade grip on American politics. I found one passage in particular quite intriguing:
But it seems to many that something is different this time around, that change in our political system is inevitable. New regulations will be issued for Wall Street and corporations. A new national plan for healthcare will emerge. And changes in our tax laws will have to occur to reverse the deficit and arrest the debt. No doubt each of these will be resisted by those who still cling to a retrograde American “libertarianism.” But it may finally be the case that their outsized and undeserved influence on the politics of the past 30 years is ending.
I wonder if this is the case, not because there is a deficit of real political will for change, but because the 30 year rise of what Kelts calls American libertarianism has altered the center of gravity in politics.
The Blue Dogs and free-trade Democrats together form a powerful branch of the Democratic party, one that has had real influence over recent legislation. The climate bill made major exceptions to agriculture and the healthcare bill will probably not have a public option.
Yet more profoundly, even traditional liberals have become libertarians of a particular kind. Cap-and-trade, once the conservative answer to a carbon tax, has become the dominant liberal climate measure. Entitlement increases are now anathema, and it’s liberals who have turned to the Earned Income Tax Credit (and other tax credits) as the primary avenue of cash assistance.
Kelts is right. The winds of change are coming. Yet I wonder if the universe of what is political possible has not already been radically shifted. The vanguard of American libertarianism may have diminshed in strength, but its spirit appears alive and well.
–Sam
Related posts:
- Libertarianism
- Is politics the problem?
- An uncertain climate
- What’s best or what’s possible?
- Changing American Dream
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