I haven’t given up my unhealthy Salon.com addiction, and every once in a while I’m rewarded with a gem. This time it was a piece posted yesterday titled, "My unusual libertarian journey: How a former outlaw broke the political mold."
The piece opens with this line: "The Koch brothers have marvelous taste in art." As I read further I steeled myself for the usual fact-free libertarian-bashing that Salon has patented. I kept reading. And reading. Toward the end I started to ask myself, "Could it be possible?"
Not only is it possible, it happened. For some strange reason the impeccably progressive Salon.com allowed it’s pixels to be graced by an author who wrote approvingly about Libertarianism.
The comments are also interspersed with libertarians defending the piece, but the loyal Salon readership eventually rides to the rescue with the ever popular libertarians-are-racist charge (Question: how does one legislate humility and tolerance?).
I wish I knew what was going on behind the scenes in the editorial room. In my fantasy world I conjure up visions of principled classical liberals who have noticed the Democratic Party’s downward drift toward statism and authoritarianism and want to jump-start a conversation on the left (one that’s long overdue).
Whatever happened, I applaud them for at least entertaining the notion that those of us on the right might have a good idea or two.
The other thing of note is the author, who describes himself thusly:
I don’t just break the libertarian mold, I napalm it. I’m Hispanic. I live below the poverty line. I joined a gang by 15, dropped out of high school by 17, and spent the first half of my 20s playing guitar in a raucous punk band. Yet despite how unconventional my background might seem, it unmistakably epitomizes just how diverse the broader libertarian movement has become over a relatively short burst of time, even as archaic perceptions in the media and public continue to stubbornly linger.
I would dispute that there is such a thing as a "libertarian mold" as it regards to race, gender, or sexual orientation – those are the things progressives use to put people into neat little boxes.
I would also say that the well reported death-by-demography of the American right is, as evidenced by this gentleman, fiction. Fat old white males aren’t the only people on earth who celebrate freedom.
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