Civil Liberties Surge?

Matt Welch | May 11, 2009

Over at Cato @ Liberty, the think tank's Executive Vice President David Boaz chews on the various recent polling data indicating what he calls a "civil liberties surge." Well worth a read (especially the reminder that "some 30 states have constitutional bans on gay marriage, limiting the opportunity for progress in most of the country"). Here's the conclusion:

The "shift to the left" that we seem to observe on economic policy is depressing to libertarians. But that's mostly crisis-driven. When the results of more spending, more taxes, more regulation, and more money creation begin to be visible, we may see the kind of reaction that led to Proposition 13 and the election of Ronald Reagan at the end of the 1970s. Meanwhile, this cultural "shift to the left" is far more encouraging. And don't forget, at 90 days into the Obama administration, Americans preferred smaller government to "more active government" by 66 to 25 percent.

Here's Boaz on the reason.tv Talk Show debating whether or not we're living in a "Libertarian Moment."