Whats the difference between Neo-Conservatives and Libertarians?
this is a good run down of american libertarians, ideally advocating a system with no taxes whatsoever.
Just to give personal impressions: Libertarians are essentially anti-authoritarians. Their ideals are an unrealistic fantasy, and what instead you find are that libertarians are people who want to be more free of government but don’t particularly have a philosophy to push. They are usually transparently (if not proudly) selfish. They want to smoke pot or make money without paying taxes. They reject the idea of social obligation, or at least involuntary social obligation. Libertarianism appeals to educated blue collar people because it promises them more freedom and less responsibility. They want to own guns, smoke pot, not go to church. It also appeals to the highly privileged for the same reasons. They want to avoid taxes, to not feel guilty about their status. In both cases it’s mostly a shield philosophy to screen self-interest and generally not caring about other stuff. A libertarian believes in social freedoms, but doesn’t really feel that they’re worth getting all excited about b
IMHO, a neo-conservative (like the current administration) and a new democrat (of Bill Clinton’s ilk) have a good deal in common. The key factor is being corrupt. A conservative or a progressive has certain principles that they don’t comprimise, whereas a neo-con or a new-dem is willing to sell any principles to anyone who can get them re-elected. The key difference in the policies implemented by the two new groups is who gets to them first with the most money.
Dagnyscott: What I’ve generally heard is that libertarians would be called “liberal” in Europe; This is true, at least in France But, in the UK at least, ‘liberal’ would definitely include an implication of ‘left-wing’, which, again in the UK, would tend imply much that is at odds with libertarianism.
Neo-conservatives believe in a strong government, one that is muscular in dealing with America’s perceived enemies. Libertarians believe in a government that exists only to protect us from foreign enemies and preserve order here at home. That’s the main difference. Neo-cons are opposed to classic conservatives in that classic conservatives favor isolation, and neo-cons favor engagement. If you look at Iraq, that was a policy pretty much driven by neo-cons. Libertarians, in general, opposed it due to the fact that it’s a massive governmental expendature of their tax dollars. Like many things, there are shades of grey and overlaps, but that’s the general idea.
