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Civil Liberties

Convergence in Action

Jesse Walker | 11.11.2008 10:46 PM

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A socialist columnist writes a libertarian article for a conservative magazine.

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NEXT: Ayers Emerges from the Underground, Calls the Pigs

Jesse Walker is books editor at Reason and the author of Rebels on the Air and The United States of Paranoia.

Civil Liberties
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  1. matt   17 years ago

    The American Conservative specializes in convergences like this. It's practically their meal ticket. Cockburn knows his stuff, too.

  2. joshua corning   17 years ago

    Next spring CounterPunch Books will publish his A Short History of Fear: The Rise and Fall of Global Warming.

    Interesting

  3. juris imprudent   17 years ago

    Perhaps this convergence merely illustrates that no one has a monopoly on truth or common sense.

  4. James Anderson Merritt   17 years ago

    Orwell was a socialist, too, and all libertarians owe him a debt of gratitude, at least for "1984," if not also for "Politics and the English Language." The former showed very clearly what we are up against, and the latter suggested both how our predicament is being obfuscated by politicians, as well as how to see through the fog of political language.

  5. Citizen Nothing   17 years ago

    What a great and gloomy article.

    For the first time in my adult life -- except, perhaps, for a couple of days in the fall of 2001 -- I don't feel optimistic about the future. (Ironic, ain't it?)
    I think the parallels between Hoover/FDR and Bush/Obama are ominous. I've been proven right about Bush. I hope I'm wrong about Obama. (So, I guess I've got hope after all.)

  6. the innominate one   17 years ago

    convergence or consilience?

  7. SugarFree   17 years ago

    the innominate one,

    No one's going to reply to your comments if you keep up with that sort of potty talk.

  8. P Brooks   17 years ago

    They hate us for our freedom.

    We must eliminate freedom.

  9. J sub D   17 years ago

    I'm can't find anything to bitch about in Mr. Cockburn's article. It should be required reading in civics classes* throughout the nation.

    * Do they still requirte civics to graduate H.S.?

  10. Ryan M   17 years ago

    "Orwell was a socialist, too, and all libertarians owe him a debt of gratitude, at least for "1984," if not also for "Politics and the English Language.""
    I don't know about anyone else, but Animal Farm probably did more to turn me into a libertarian than anything else. It's portrayal of a supposedly good idea slowly being corrupted and turned into a dictatorship made a big impact on my view of government.

  11. economist   17 years ago

    "A socialist columnist writes a libertarian article for a conservative magazine."
    I TOLD you that Obama's election would cause the universe to implode, but no one listened.

  12. economist   17 years ago

    Out of respect for Orwell's wishes, I don't usually use any of his works when arguing with socialists.

  13. economist   17 years ago

    "Hoover/Bush comparison"
    Except that Hoover's interventions were small potatoes compared with Bush's interventions.

  14. Citizen Nothing   17 years ago

    But like Hoover, Bush will be painted by history as a small-government deregulator.

  15. economist   17 years ago

    CN,
    Yeah, that's a bitch.

  16. ChrisH   17 years ago

    "A socialist columnist writes a libertarian article for a conservative magazine."
    I TOLD you that Obama's election would cause the universe to implode, but no one listened.

    We're sure the Large Hadron Collider isn't running, right?

  17. economist   17 years ago

    ChrisH,
    According to my calculations, the universe should implode sometime in January.

  18. economist   17 years ago

    "Bush will be painted as a small-government deregulator."
    Doule-assrape. Ow, it hurts, ow!

  19. Boston   17 years ago

    Cockburn is a strange animal to say the least. Though he did have an article how he was voting for Barr.

  20. R C Dean   17 years ago

    Good article. The only quibble I have is that I really don't regard being required to provide ID to be an infringement on your right to vote.

  21. JW   17 years ago

    Cockburn seems to be a vanishing breed of Socialists, one that actually gives a shit about civil liberties.

  22. Mike   17 years ago

    "I'm can't find anything to bitch about in Mr. Cockburn's article. It should be required reading in civics classes* throughout the nation."

    Lulz irony.

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