Frank Reichert <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote in part: >> I have found that much of the rank-and-file in the religious right, as >> long as they themselves are not under direct attack, aren't particularly >> eager to go out on holy crusades. Of course, it's impossible to sway them >> into a sensible position on such matters as abortion or school prayer. >> Nevertheless, it *is* possible to get some sort of mutual agreement for >> peaceful co-existance with them.
>On what issue? Certainly not on the majority of 'social issues', >which I find them diametrically opposed to civil liberties >specifically. In other words, they seem to almost always come >down hard on using government power to govern what is socially >acceptable, and put those who oppose them in jail if they >disagree. That may be the case if you question them issue by issue. However, if you ask them what their priorities are, or just ask them open-endedly what issues are important to them, you'll find much greater agreement, or at least lack of disagreement, with libertarians. On many issues, they find themselves in a culture war with the secularist "left", and on most of those issues, neither side is particulary right or wrong from a radical libertarian point of view. For instance, they'll argue over content of gov't schooling or gov't-sponsored art, which is no big deal to someone who doesn't believe in gov't schooling or tax-funded art. But on other issues, they're mostly on our side: home schooling, gov't payments to the poor, alternative health practices, income taxes, that sort of thing. They're against abortions, but not all radical libertarians oppose them on that. And finally, there are issues which on the list of libertarian concerns they're on the wrong side of, but so is the great majority of everyone else too -- legalizing drugs & prostitution. They may be more vehemently against us than are average folks on these issues, but as the status quo is quo, that hardly matters. There are a few issues which are of fairly high priority to some on the religious "right" which are untoward to us: censorship and homosexuality, mostly. But when viewed as a whole, these people are more on our side in the present world than is the average person. >> Ashcroft, perhaps the furthest to the right in Bush's cabinet, is the >> first attorney general in decades who has taken the official position that >> the Second Amendment means that there is an individual right to own >> firearms. >> We haven't had any Waco or Ruby Ridge type incidents under Ashcroft >> either. >> Some authoritarian! >I really do believe you have seriously missed the point here. Try >going to the airport these days, and accompanying your wife to >the bording gate! I tried to do that in Spokane, Washington just >last thursday night. I'd guess 99% of people, given the events of 3 years ago, would institute similar measures if they could. >Colin Powell could have been the next >GOP Presidental candidate from the GOP, and he still might be >yet, it's too early to tell -- but the signs are already being >written on the wall of THIS Administration. Who would YOU trust >as most credible, Colin Powell, or Heir Rumsfeld? I remember Colin Powell's interviews on his book tour over a decade ago, particularly on libertarian David Brudnoy's show on WBZ. Powell struck me as the most authoritarian candidate either the Democrats or Republicans would seriously think of nominating for president (that was before Giuliani's prominence). There are really just a few, very superficial reasons Powell was thought of as a moderate: (1) He was a Negro on the Joint Chiefs of Staff. (2) He wasn't known especially as either a Democrat or Republican. (3) He didn't want to take the war all the way to Bagdad. Colin Powell was a projective test into which many hoped to pour their own image. However, on policy issues, he was more authoritarian than average Democrats or Republicans. I'll take Rumsfeld over him any time. In Your Sly Tribe, Robert in the Bronx _______________________________________________ Libnw mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] List info and subscriber options: http://immosys.com/mailman/listinfo/libnw Archives: http://immosys.com/mailman//pipermail/libnw
