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The Democratic Strategist

Political Strategy for a Permanent Democratic Majority

Libertarians Lame on Environment

Just to piggy-back on Ed’s post yesterday, here’s a tidbit from the Libertarian Party Platform section on “Property Rights,” subsection on “Solutions”:

All publicly owned infrastructures including dams and parks shall be returned to private ownership and all taxing authority for such public improvements shall sunset. Property related services shall be supplied by private markets and paid for by user fees, and regulation of property shall be limited to that which secures the rights of individuals.

Now there’s a lovely idea. Let’s turn our National, State and City Parks over to any greedhead with a chainsaw.
The Libertarian Party web pages say little of substance about improving environmental protection, or addressing global warming and related concerns. And if you want to see a Libertarian get all tongue-tied, just ask him/her to explain how they would reduce pollution. In fact, Libertarian leaders still frequently deny that global warming is a problem. When pressed, they say pollution issues can be settled in the courts, which is highly dubious, especially considering they want to repeal environmental regulations.
The main reason Libertarian policies have any relevance to Democratic strategy is that Ron Paul, a former (’88) Libertarian Party presidential nominee, has gotten substantial contributions from individuals seeking a peace candidate in the GOP presidential field. I’d wager a lot of those contributions come from people who are unaware of the Libertarian Party’s (and Paul’s) blanket opposition to environmental regulations, or Paul’s disturbing support from white supremacist groups, discussed in several articles on this page.
Paul is not going to get nominated, but who knows, his fund-raising success may yet nudge one of the GOP’s more likely nominees toward a less hawkish position regarding Iraq. Either way, after the GOP nomination is decided, Dems may have a clear chance to win over some of Paul’s pro-peace supporters, a relatively small constituency, but one which could make a difference in a close general election. It might help to have a better understanding of who they are.

2 comments on “Libertarians Lame on Environment

  1. numi on

    I have always found Libertarians to be juvenile in thier approach and fantasist in thier ideology. They seem to have no grounding in any known reality and no clue as to the possible consequences of thier policies. They would, of course, never be the poor plonk whose home gets washed away by the collapse of a ‘privatized’ dam or die eating tainted foods or taking tainted medecines. All that matters is thier own self-centered greed. They are, if anything, even worse than current crop of conservative idealogues running our country into the ground. But they all read Ayn Rand once.

    Reply
  2. CGB on

    Perhaps there are those who do not care about Social Security, but Ron Paul wants to abolish it. When I wrote his campaign to inquire about it, I was told that those on Social Security would not have to worry. Well, I’m not on it, but I have to worry. I am a few short years away from collecting it. This is cruel and mean to those of us who have worked our whole adult lives to change the rules now. I could not make it without Social Security and would not be able to make up the difference if the rules are changed now. I am so tired of being jerked around on this important survival issue. Young folks are being sold a bunch of lies and better be rich. They will have to take care of their grandparents and parents if Social Security is abolished. Wake up folks.

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