Longhaired Country Boys

Jesse Walker | January 16, 2008

Some interesting observations from Franklin Harris, down in the comment threads:

That [Ron] Paul placed higher in Michigan and Iowa(!) than in New Hampshire may be the best indication that the Ron Paul Revolution is a different demographic than the traditional libertarian demographic. And since I don't think these are people who are backing Paul because of a few old newsletters, this is probably a good thing. The question becomes then, can traditional libertarianism (cosmo, paleo, or otherwise) offer these folks anything that keeps them around? And, for what it's worth, judging by the grassroots Revolution's online presence, I'd say most of these people are socially cosmo-libertarian and economically paleo-libertarian.

"Socially cosmo-libertarian and economically paleo-libertarian"? Sounds a bit like this:

Incidentally, Harris' comment may be the first time I've seen someone use the term "cosmo-libertarian" (or "cosmotarian") as anything other than an insult. Not that its meaning has had much time to stabilize -- a couple months ago, as far as I can tell, the word didn't exist at all. Unless you count this early usage: