I am sure that I am not the first person to make this observation, but it seems as if there are very few people who have converted from libertarian or anarcho-capitalist to one of the more mainstream viewpoints on the political spectrum. I never hear about anyone in the Republican or Democrat camps saying in an interview, "You know, I used to believe in the sovereignty of the individual and in doing all that we can to defend individual rights, but now I have seen the light and joined the Democrat party. I realized after all that it is in fact morally justified to take some money from neighbor A and give it to neighbor B if he really needs it (or if he seems like a likely voter)."
Am I wrong here? Can someone provide counter examples? Where are all the libertarian defectors?
More than that, even, is the fact that VERY few people who I have seen reject the paradigm has fully understood it. Perhaps 2, of all of the criticisms of Libertarianism I have read...
ReplyDeleteWhy is it that people can only view libertarianism through absolutist glasses? People, in general, rarely have huge shifts in their political beliefs, at least not rapidly.
ReplyDeleteThere are a lot of people I know (myself included) who have become more moderate/minarchist in their outlook over time (and vice versa).
But for the most famous example of all: Ron Paul becoming a Republican after running for President as a Libertarian...
Ron Paul changed his political party affiliation but he never changed his political philosophy.
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