A conversation at my house last night:
“What is this?”
“That’s a McCain-Palin campaign button.”
“President?”
“Campaign button.”
“Why do you have it?”
“I voted for them. Why? Who did you want to win? Obama?”
“No. I’m a Libertarian. I wanted Bob Barr.”
Andy is eleven. Eleven. And he said his mother was not a Libertarian.
I was not expecting a conversation like that with a fifth-grader.
I voted straight Libertarian, and was a card-carrying party member, for ten years, up until a certain September day early in this century. Then I became gradually alienated by the widespread, although not unanimous, appeasenik (“noninterventionist”) sentiment in the mainstream of the libertarian movement, which includes the Party. The late Murray Rothbard, and the Ron Paul/Lew Rockwell crowd, had successfully sold their phony historical narrative denying the dire necessity of American military actions.
At that point, as a pro-Israel libertarian warmonger, I seemed to be doubly marginalized.
But then came…the blogosphere! I can now identify as a Glenn Reynolds libertarian. There are Pajamas Media and Samizdata, and Shire Network News is one of my favorite podcasts. And history will demonstrate that advancing liberty in Iraq and protecting it in Israel are in America’s essential security interests.
Whether it’s from the parent, the teacher, or Auntie Meryl, Andy is learning some big lessons early!
chsw