Christie: "This Strain Of Libertarianism" Going Around Is "Very Dangerous"

[Valin]

Real Clear Videos:

 

"As a former prosecutor who was appointed by President George W. Bush on Sept. 10, 2001, I just want us to be really cautious, because this strain of libertarianism thats going through both parties right now and making big headlines, I think, is a very dangerous thought," Gov. Chris Christie (R-NJ) said Thursday in Aspen, Colorado at a forum for Republican Governors. Christie was referring to the position of libertarians when it comes to government surveillance programs used to prevent terror attacks.

 

Asked if he is referring to Senator Rand Paul (R-KY), Christie acknowledged he is "one of them."

 

(Snip)

[Valin]

Quantum Conservatism?

Steven Hayward

7/26/13

 

So the big story on the right today is that Gov. Chris Christie has leveled a blast at libertarians, in particular his potential 2016 primary rival Sen. Rand Paul:

 

This strain of libertarianism thats going through both parties right now and making big headlines I think is a very dangerous thought. You can name any number of people and hes [Rand Paul] one of them, Christie said at a panel of Republican governors in Aspen, Colorado.

Set aside for the moment the proximate cause of this schism, which is narrowly about the argument over NSA surveillance, but involves larger arguments inside the right about foreign policy that go all the way back to the Taft years. This split has its roots in basic differences of principle between libertarians and isolationist conservatives on the one side, and internationalist conservatives and the dreaded neoconservatives on the other. A second but no less important aspect of this split is the philosophical and political argument between the authority of tradition and community (Nisbet, Kirk, etc.) versus maximum individual liberty (Friedman, etc), or between order versus liberty, or virtue versus licentiousness. In this respect, Gov. Christies blast can be seen as merely a Jersey shore version of Russell Kirks famous attack on libertarians as the chirping sectaries (PDF file) of the right.

 

(Snip)

 

Hence it now seems to me that conservatism today is closer to quantum physics than fusion energy: just as in quantum physicswhere it is a core proposition that you cannot know both the position and momentum of a particle at the same timetodays quantum conservatism represents an instability in which it is impossible to settle on the position (Tea Party or establishment? Security or absolute privacy? Populism or sobriety?) or what will generate the most momentum for the right at the same time. Each seems to cancel out the other to some extent.

 

(Snip)

[Valin]

Its a Blast From The Past....

 

Americas Daddy Party Needs To Grow Up

Walter Russell Mead

March 17, 2013

 

(Snip)

Rand Pauls dramatic 13-hour filibuster of the Brennan nomination, the attacks on his position from established Republican leaders like Senator John McCain, and the conservative applause Sen. Paul received afterward had many talking about a sea change in Republican foreign policy and that was before he won the CPAC straw poll. Were the isolationists and America-Firsters coming back from the margins, led by the younger and more telegenic Paul? Could Patrick Buchanan style thinking be returning to the mainstream of an anti-engagement, ignore-Israel Republican Party?

 

(Snip)

 

Very true. To see the influence at work, just have a look at a recent Charles Krauthammer op-ed, which as its final point endorses rewriting the 2001-vintage Authorization for Use of Military Force (AUMF), the resolution which gave the Executive very broad discretion in prosecuting the please-dont-call-it-the-Global-War-On-Terror. Krauthammers preferred rewrite probably wouldnt thrill dyed-in-the-wool Paulites, but its an unmistakeable sign that a discussion has begun and Paul has a seat at the table.

 

(Snip)

 

There has always been a crackpot-Jeffersonian element in the Republican Party, and in some ways it was strengthened when southern whites joined the GOP. The Ron Paul wing of the primary vote is echoing ideas that were more mainstream sixty years ago; the question now is whether the loss of neoconservative and internationalist prestige and authority has opened the door for the Paulites to seize the commanding heights of the GOP.

 

(Snip)

[Draggingtree]

Why I'm a conservative

http://youtu.be/y6kYcuvJHZA

http://stacyontheright.com/

 

 

I thought this was worth posting for yous