March 5, 2008
Arnold Kling
He writes,
the one thing libertarians grasp better than conservatives or liberals is the danger of the category error when it comes to the role of government...The fundamental insight of libertarianism is that the government is the government. It cannot be your mommy, your daddy, your big brother, your nanny, your friend, your buddy, your god, your salvation, your church or your conscience.
Read the whole thing. I think that
Category Error would have been a good title from a purely intellectual standpoint. But it would not have landed Goldberg onto the bestseller list.
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It appears to me that the position of "government is government" is precisely the view of the conservative. It's not so much that the libertarians are right, as that the liberals are wrong. Stunningly, inexplicably wrong.
Good Lord, how did that happen?
[I removed the duplicates for you. You may have hit the Post button again while waiting, or it could be some kind of system glitch that happens when a lot of people try to post at once.--Econlib Ed.]
Caliban --
Can't forget the social aspects of the conservative platform: Republicans appear to believe that government should be our church (or our church should be our government).
If you disagree, consider how much political energy is spent 'defending' the social/religious institution of marriage through government. (I don't care what happens to marriage.)
Jonah is on the best seller list because he is a conservative with strong libertarian leanings, a big star in the making in the National Review crowd. I think it's unfortunate that he isn't a bright light in the libertarian Reason crowd, but he wouldn't be selling many books. The closest we've got is Kerry Howley, and frankly, she's thoughtful, funny, and pretty, but she's not Jonah.
