The Frothyhead

David Weigel | November 1, 2006

Speaking of the collapse of the libertarian-conservative coalition, today brings a truly risible column by Jennifer Roback Morse at National Review Online. The argument: "fiscal conservatives and libertarians can vote for Rick Santorum with a clean conscience." The evidence: He totally aces Tony Perkins' litmus test for candidates. I'm quite serious.

Among the 13 issues they listed as important for 2005, not a single one required additional federal expenditure. The Family Research Council supported positions that would reduce taxpayer expenditures, including reducing taxpayer funding for abortions in military hospitals, for coercive U.N. abortion policies, and reducing funding for the National Endowment for the Arts. The Family Research Council favors making the repeal of the death tax permanent. The FRC supported legislation preventing enforcement of the Kelo private-property seizure decision, opposed extending federal hate crimes to additional protected classes, and supported parental notification for abortion. These policies are much more closely attuned to libertarian sensibilities than anything the Children’s Defense Fund has offered, or is ever likely to offer.

They're more attuned to libertarian sensibilities than anything NAMBLA might offer, too, but enough about Ken Blackwell. This is a weak dodge; Santorum is uniquely unpopular among libertarians for positions that don't come up in surveys like this. He's an utter squish on the minimum wage, for starters, and he's probably the most vocal advocate for using taxpayer money to moralize Americans - to bribe couples into getting married, to promote abstinence from sex and drugs until death or marriage (respectively).

Morse brushes off Santorum's signature social conservative position - his opposition to gay rights - with even flashier film-flam. Ignore gay rights, libertarians, because "the gay-rights movement as it currently exists in the United States is not a libertarian movement". Good point; I think I saw a few "Re-Elect Gore" stickers at the NORML rally. Let's kick them off the libertarian roll call, too.

Roy Edroso at Alicublog digs a little further into this.

Comments

|11.1.06 @ 3:35PM|#

I can't WAIT till election day!

|11.1.06 @ 3:42PM|#

This guy looks like the flying head of Zardoz.

|11.1.06 @ 3:43PM|#

Boy, they don't even pretend to take us seriously anymore, do they?

And I'm not sure if I mean NRO or the whole Republican Party. Unfortunately, NRO no longer means conservative. It means Republican.

|11.1.06 @ 3:43PM|#

Back in 2004, before I discovered blogs, I caught pneumonia in the last week of October. That meant two weeks' off work, sitting in abject misery in the recliner in my bedroom, watching TV, which meant, at the time, watching a million campaign ads. I was too tired and sick to read, knit, or, heck, think. Surfing the 'Net was out because the chair next to the computer doesn't recline, so I couldn't breath and sit in it at the same time. Also, as anyone who's had pneumonia can tell you, you can't sleep because laying all the way down causes you to cough insanely. (I can't take opiates, so codeine syrup was out.) I was the unwilling guinea pig in some kind of "Clockwork Orange" experiment for reaction to campaign ads, and, believe me, the disease was a poor second in the race to cause me the most pain. I went back to work before the doctor released me because it was so bleeding awful.

That said, this year has been even worse. This whole business can't get over soon enough. I really, really, really can wait for whatever horrors have been saved up for this next weekend. If only I could find a way to go to Canada for a few days. . . .

|11.1.06 @ 3:45PM|#

I love that picture. It shows that Man-on-Wrench action is just fine in Santorum's world

|11.1.06 @ 3:48PM|#

Man, those teeth. Is he secretly British?

More on topic, at the very least, libertarians should be pro-gridlock, no? And anti-torture? Two good reasons to vote Democratic, even if holding one's nose while doing so.

|11.1.06 @ 3:50PM|#

I think he looks like Wallace.

|11.1.06 @ 3:51PM|#

He favors abstinence from drugs until marriage, does he? Where do I find a 24 hour chapel in this town?

|11.1.06 @ 3:51PM|#

Phfew! I am so glad that he's man enough to stand up for saving that ENORMOUS amount of money blown on abortions in military hospitals. He's a real stand up libertarian kinda guy! I hope he goes after the "work clothes" tax break for ascots and scarves next! [/sarcasm]

|11.1.06 @ 3:51PM|#

Are you KIDDING me? Libertarians for Santorum?

"The Family Research Council supported positions that would reduce taxpayer expenditures".

Not because they actually care about taxpayer dollars, they just don't want taxpayer dollars to go to the programs they disapprove of. This is nothing more than rent-seeking for the anti-gay crowd, and it certainly doesn't mean that, suddenly, libertarians are going to see a check in the mail for all those liberal programs that get cut. So, in reality, all they're doing is shifting the ratio of tax dollars over to their socially conservative agenda, thus rendering the idiot FRC, and Santorum, the exact opposite of what a libertarian would be looking for. And that's before even talking about Santorum's anti-liberty social conservatism platform, which is a main proponent of using the cudgel of the State to enforce their myopic moral values on the entirety of the populous. No fuggin thanks. Until Santorum and FRC actually comes out and says that they think that a bunch of social programs should be cut, and the money given directly back to the ones from whom it was stolen (namely, us, all of us, not just wealthy dividends-reapers), then I won't even so much as entertain such an absurd notion.

|11.1.06 @ 3:52PM|#

More on topic, at the very least, libertarians should be pro-gridlock, no? And anti-torture? Two good reasons to vote Democratic, even if holding one's nose while doing so.

One certain reason, at least. Most of them seem pretty quiet about opposing torture, so I hate to try to rely on that one...

|11.1.06 @ 4:45PM|#

"Man, those teeth. Is he secretly British?"

No, a cenobite.

http://www.pitofhorror.com/newdesign/hellraiser/images/chatpro.jpg

|11.1.06 @ 4:48PM|#

Damn, Santorum is a cenobite! That explains so much.

|11.1.06 @ 4:53PM|#

While clicking, somehow I got to this interview. There isn't an ounce of libertarian leanings to this guy.

http://distint.blogspot.com/2006/10/thomas-jefferson-traitor-or-terrorist.html

|11.1.06 @ 5:36PM|#

Only six more days until this idiot is done for.

|11.1.06 @ 5:50PM|#

He hates the pursuit of happiness!

|11.1.06 @ 6:07PM|#

He hates the pursuit of Happiness (his nieghbors collie/lab mix) ever sense he chased after her with his pants around his ankles.....those teeth are dentures.....

Jim Walsh|11.1.06 @ 6:48PM|#

He favors outlawing single-sex bathrooms, and opposes allowing homo sapiens to marry...

J|11.1.06 @ 10:30PM|#

That's a photo? I thought it was a Peter Bagge illustration....

Larry A|11.2.06 @ 11:02AM|#

From the "gays aren't libs" article.

The LBGT caucus evidently believes that gay people need more than for everybody to mind their own business. Prohibiting discrimination means forbidding people to take any notice of sexual orientation. Sheila Kuehl and her allies are not going to be satisfied until they wipe out every religious group that teaches that being straight is preferable to being gay. Or until they shove religion safely into the closet.

The gay folks Jennifer Morse talks about are no more libertarian than Santorum is. Of course neither are the churches who seek to use the law to oppress them. A plague on both their houses.

|11.2.06 @ 1:19PM|#

I'll jump on the bandwagon and say that the Santorum pic is absolutely fabulous. I never get tired of it. Reason should come out with a T-shirt of it.

|11.2.06 @ 3:47PM|#

Family Research Council? That's a funny name. What are they researching? They should change the name to the Family in your shit every minute of the day Council.

|11.2.06 @ 4:26PM|#

They should come and research my family. It's just me, my wife and two cats--but i'm sure it would be worth researching. Wait a second. I have two boy cats and they like to sleep next to each other on the end of the bed. HOLY SHIT my cats are gay. Oh no i'm doomed to a life (after life) in hell because i've let my cats turn gay like all those poor children. Wait, can boy cats who are nuetured be gay? Help me Family Research Council I need your help to determine the sexuality of my kitties. Help me Jebus.

Robert Goodman|11.3.06 @ 11:10PM|#

So, you think Jenny Roback's doing some wishful thinking here? I always knew her to be hard-headed, but maybe not since she got religion.