Jonah Goldberg has apparently begun to realize that Republicans and conservatives can’t be trusted to use power properly either:
A bunch of readers wanted to know what I meant when I said that my views on “libertarianism” have “evolved” since my earlier, full-throated, attacks. Well, for starters, I no longer make jokes like: “Q: What’s the hardest part about being a libertarian? A: Telling your parents you’re gay.”
Again, more seriously, as I’ve watched compassionate conservatism, Buchananism, Crunchy Conservatism, and similar movements bubble-up since the end of the Cold War, I think it’s better for everybody concerned if we start from a foundation of libertarianism and build up from it. In public policy — as opposed to cultural politics — I think the default position should be libertarian and then arguments should be made for why we should deviate from libertarian dogma. I’m more sympathetic to arguments based on tradition and custom than your average libertarian. But I’m more hostile than I used to be to what you might call neo-traditionalism in the forms of “national greatness” conservatism, Buchananism, Crunchy Conservatism, and the rest. I am extremely susceptible to nostalgia, but intellectually I think it is more often than not a poison to clear thinking. Starting from libertarian assumptions puts you in a better place to identify nostalgic toxins. My problem with the so-called paleolibertarians is that they are often more nostalgic than the conservatives they denounce.
The intellectual strength of libertarianism is that it is a proactive argument from first principles rather than a reactive response to the presumed leftist. The bankruptcy of what passes for today’s conservativism is obvious in the way it is eager to read nearly everyone with any small government principles out of the party as those intoxicated with government power abandon everything they claim to stand for in a futile attempt to cling to its reins.
The reason Three Monkey Republicans are so prone to calling me a leftist – in spite of the copious evidence – is that they have been spun around so many times that they are no longer capable of rational thought. Good = Conservative = whatever Dear Leader proclaims it to be. So, the poor Three Monkey finds himself in support of Hamas, Sharia in Iraq and the right of the Afghani government to kill converts to Christianity and loses his temper whenever someone points out that he has become what he hates in the equally mindless Party of Asses.