Watch Matt Welch Debate Jonah Goldberg About Libertarians and Conservatives

On Feb. 8, Reason Editor in Chief Matt Welch debated National Review/American Enterprise Institute author Jonah Goldberg on the topic of "Are Libertarians Part of the Conservative Movement?" You can now watch the hour-long debate in its entirety:

Comments

[Mr. Know-It-All?]

I think I'd rather watch my own colonoscopy.

[Bee Tagger]

You're German, aren't you?

[Mr. Know-It-All?]

Irish-Italian. A drunk who can cook.

[Vote Republican]

http://www.gop.com/

[Shorter Jonah Goldberg]

Baby, I'm really sorry. I just had a few too many drinks last night and lost control. I know I've said it before, but I really mean it this time. I promise I'll never hit you again. Please come back to me.

[Tony]

Libertarians should hitch themselves to the conservative movement for the same reason someone should volunteer to be a footman on the Titanic.

[Mr. Know-It-All?]

Hmmm...what's the best choice: a bankrupt political philosophy (conservatism) or no coherent philosophy at all (libertarianism)?

[Fist of Etiquette]

I was hoping this was a typo and it was Welch arguing with the Jonas brothers.

[melissa]

Nice discussion...Peace through strength not denial. Universal School Choice Vouchers are needed to upgrade the thinking skills of the "governed" in order for future voters to understand the principles of self government.

[Bee Tagger]

15 minutes in and I'd say Welch is clearly winning on the humor issue.

[BoscoH]

50 minutes in and no discussion of religion. Probably the biggest, most obvious divide between Reason and NR.

[bosty]

Anybody who saw Lopez's avalanche of posts over this whole HHS mandate agrees. It's like she thinks she's writing for a Catholic bulletin.

[BoscoH]

Bingo. They wear their brand of political Catholicism on their sleeves too much for anyone's tastes. While Jonah claims that NR is the pole holding up the big tent of "conservatism", it's too often a side show of the more ridiculous acts in the circus.

[robc]

It takes an hour to say no?

[epistemicfail]

This was a lot more fun and less in the weeds than I'd expected. Just put it on in the background and read your daily RSS feeds.

[ChrisO]

It was a good discussion, and worth watching.

My main problem is that Welch never delved into the question of "what is conservatism?" when it was asked.

Conservatism in 2012 is a far different beast than it was 50 years ago. Jonah starts with the assumption that liberty is one of the main tenets of conservatism. Does he really think Rick Santorum believes that?

Moreover, the drift in the conservative view of foreign policy went completely unspoken in this debate. In what way is a foreign policy reminiscent of LBJ "conservative?" It's certainly not something Goldwater or even Eisenhower would have approved of.

I see modern American conservatism devolving into the same sort of movement you see in Germany, where the CDU/CSU espouses maximalist government and the use of force to enforce one particular communal vision of "traditional values."

[Lynn Woods]

Kinda makes you wonder who comes up with all that stuff lol.

http://www.Privacy-Wares.tk

[jude]

Just listened to the whole thing and it enjoyed it, and Jonah came up with some good stuff at the end. Insofar as the debate goes, Matt wins me over. I am a Republican, more or less, but only in the apologetics of Goldberg, and that is ultimately a justification of how conservatism and the GOP are Libertarian.

And they didn't talk about religion. That is where the Republicans went off the tracks in the 80s. They still haven't found their way back, just as Christianity still hasn't recovered from Constantine's embrace of it in the 4th century.

[ChrisO]

They didn't really have the time, and neither guy was willing to talk about the nature of modern conservatism very much.

Historically, the conservative position on religion (to the extent there was one) was focused on the separation of church and state, in large part for the protection of the church.

The use of government to enforce moral virtues/codes is a relatively recent policy position in conservatism. It reflects both the influx of evangelicals into the movement, but also the influx of Catholics, as reflected in the pages of National Review over the years.

[BoscoH]

@Matt Welch: You have to be willing to go there. Libertarians are not anti-religious (for the most part). But when we look at the range of (non-)belief and (non-)practice, we are damned skeptical of people whose politics and solutions are so obviously informed by their religious experience.

[jackit]

They should put up a video of grass growing or paint drying next to the debate one, and see which gets more hits.
You'd think that people at "Reason" and "National Review" would have better things to do.
This is coming from someone who makes yearly donations to "Reason".
I EXPECT BETTER.

[Sam Grove]

From Jonah's mischaracterization of Ron Paul's foreign policy views, I have to assume he doesn't see the connection between interventionism and domestic fascism or the distinction between self defense and world bullying.

This is one of the points that makes me libertarian and not conservative.

[ChrisO]

I was disappointed that Welch didn't challenge Jonah on this more directly. The evolution of mainstream conservatives into foreign adventurists is incredibly noteworthy, and one of the biggest ways that conservatives have abandoned libertarianism in the last 20-30 years.

[Spur]

Matt has always been kinda 'meh' on foreign policy matters...

[jude]

You know, this 'debate' reminds me of one I attended at Clemson University in the mid 70s. In Tillman Hall there was to be a debate between James Kilpatrick and Karl Hess. In my mid teen mind it was going to be a throw down blood bath. While they labored tirelessly, but could never find much of anything to disagree on.

I did walk away with a strong sense of libertarian conservatism.

[Big Jay]

RE: Matt on young voters. I was one of those who voted for McCain in 2008. But I did it via an absentee ballot, and would not have voted for him after he supported TARP. I was super pissed about that.

[Big Jay]

RE: Matt on young voters. I was one of those who voted for McCain in 2008. But I did it via an absentee ballot, and would not have voted for him after he supported TARP. I was super pissed about that.