Thank Goodness!

I think this is an excellent article to address some of the fundamental misconceptions about what libertarians actually believe. Will Wilkinson hopes to make a series of posts on his blogs about some of the key elements of Ron Paul's appeal, which should be interesting. He states:

"I want to say something about why flag-waving “libertarianism in one country” types are ultimately no friends of liberty."

In particular, the following passage nearly made me squeal with glee. The vast majority of people I meet seem to mistakenly see all libertarians as anarcho-capital rightists.

"I had hoped Paul would do more good than harm for libertarianism, inspiring lots of college kids to get interested in the ideas of liberty. But now I’m pretty certain that he’s done a lot of harm, causing many people to associate libertarianism with racist cranks. I think it’s pretty important then to publicize the fact that there are genuinely liberal versions of libertarianism out there. The young people who got interested in libertarian ideas through Paul need to be able to find Cato, Reason, the IHS, and other places where one can learn about classical liberalism, which isn’t about keeping the Mexicans out, deploring the abolition of slavery, or hoarding gold."

Very well said. I can only hope that it being said by someone with greater prestige than myself will have a further reaching impact on the way people view what it means to be a libertarian. I'd strongly urge anyone who reads this to take the time to check Will Wilkinson's blog over the next couple of weeks and see what he has to say on the issue. Here's the link.