Glenn Reynolds is NOT a Libertarian

[Updates below.]

TechCentralStation: A Political Cyber-Coalition

However, a great many bloggers are libertarians. While right-of-center, they have certain disagreements with conservatives on various issues. And their ranks are well represented in the Blogosphere. Glenn Reynolds, perhaps the most famous blogger around (next to Sullivan), is a libertarian.

Though it doesn't get mentioned that much, when I hear this I get pissed off. Pejman Yousefzadeh is wrong. Here's why:

1. "Fixing potlholes [sic] and funding education should be the responsibility of state and local governments."
   
2. "Yes, it's rare for me to praise [Senator Fritz Hollings], but this looks like a good idea to me." "This" being a bill that would force cable operators to offer their programming a la carte and would bar "excessive or gratuitous violence" from broadcast, basic cable and satellite TV channels between the hours of 6 a.m. and 10 p.m. in the interests of protecting children. (original link rotted, go here instead)
   
3. "ARE WE GOING TOO SOFT IN IRAQ? Some people think so. It seems that way to me, too, though I'm reluctant to make a judgment at this distance. But in my lifetime, at least, the United States has generally erred by not being violent enough, rather than by being too brutal."
   
4. "I'd much rather see Hillary at the top of the Democratic ticket. She's better on the war, and seems to have much more backbone in general. No Carter, she."
   
5. "I think this is a significant step forward." "This" being proposed legislation that would "lays out the definition of a suborbital space passenger vehicle, solidifies the process for licensing such vehicles, and allows paying passengers to fly into space at their own risk."
   
6. "YOUR TAX DOLLARS AT WORK -- and working well. I sent my passport off for renewal on Thursday, and got it back today. Nice work!"
   
7. "This isn't an attitude that's likely to pave the way to political success." That attitude being the sentiments expressed by Robert Higgs on voting: "I never vote. I don't wish to soil my hands."

Professor Glenn Reynolds thinks the coercion should be used to build and maintain roads, educate children, determine what cable providers offer, bring even greater destruction to the lives and property of Iraqis who have never presented a threat to him, and provide passports to Americans. He also desired to see Hillary fucking Clinton as a candidate for the highest public office in the United States and apparently thinks principled non-voters are silly.

This, of course, is just what I'be bothered to document.

The Instapundit is not a libertarian and anyone who says otherwise doesn't know what makes libertarianism different from other political ideologies: primarily, the firm commitment to avoid using or advocating the initiation of force against non-aggressors.

Link via No Treason.

UPDATE 3/2/2005 5:12pm
Further evidence: "I'd go for mandatory unbundling, but not decency rules." This is translated as I want people who work in the broadcast industry to be thrown in jail for not offering a la carte programing. And that is "libertarian" how??? I discussed this topic here and therefore must conclude that Glenn Reynolds also needs slaves.

UPDATED 3/21/2005 11:12am
An interesting development.

UPDATED 6/7/2005 3:25pm
On the other hand, this post does work well from a libertarian mindset:

I HAVE A LIBERTARIAN SOLUTION TO THIS PROBLEM: Over at The Corner we're seeing a rather large number of abortion-related posts today. In this one (which really goes beyond the abortion issue) Kathryn Jean Lopez decries a poll showing that 80% of Americans think that pharmacists ought to have to fill prescriptions for contraceptives even if they're personally opposed to birth control.

Of course, this only matters because pharmacists enjoy a government-created monopoloy on the dispensing of prescription drugs. Just take that away, and the problem disappears, too. In the meantime, like others who enjoy government monopolies, they are forced to make some concessions to public convenience. That doesn't strike me as an overwhelming imposition, but if the pharmacy profession feels otherwise, I'll be the first to support a move to eliminate its privileged position.

Agreed.

UPDATED 9/26/2005 2:33pm
He hasn't been paying attention to An Intellectually and Morally Serious Antiwar Movement.

Posted by Drizzten at January 20, 2005 11:50 AM