Disaffected Conservatives Don’t Need a Welcome Sign

They need to change their political views.   

A blog post by David Van Risseghem accused me of taking down the “welcome sign” to disaffected conservatives who are upset that a “true conservative” isn’t going to be the RNC nominee for president in the 2016 elections. Actually, he’s correct. I don’t deny it. But let me explain.

Like it or not, social conservativism is a dying ideology that deserves to die because it seeks to use the power of government to achieve its ends. Social conservatives have stood in the way of liberty for all Americans for a really long time. Whether we are talking about same-sex marriage, immigration, cannabis legalization, civil asset forfeiture, criminal justice reform, capital punishment, NSA privacy (Edward Snowden), the police state, free trade, or preemptive war, conservatives have been on the opposite side of the Libertarian Party. These differences aren’t small. But now since some feel they have lost their own political party, they want a new place to promote such ideas I fear.

To be fair, Republicans Jason Murphey and Kyle Loveless did a great job in passing legislation that will allow for political competition in Oklahoma. That is greatly appreciated and it should have happened many years ago. But just a few years ago, OKGOP Party Chairman Dave Weston expressed open opposition to ballot access reform. Real progress was made this year and it is appreciated and both Loveless and Murphey know I appreciate their efforts.

In Risseghem’s blog, he referenced my “AMEN!” comment in my citation of a Washington Post article by Cato Institute fellow Aaron Ross titled, “Libertarianism isn’t Republicanism. Trump haters should find another place to hide.” In his article he made several lucid points.

First, he pointed out that newcomers don’t come to the Libertarian “safe house” with a solid understanding that liberty is about individuals being superior to the state. Republican-lite 2016 presidential politics would threaten the party’s place in the promotion of liberty for ALL PEOPLE.

Second, he correctly points out that Libertarianism isn’t a “subsidiary of Republicanism.” Republicanism is about corporatism and crony capitalism, something that is anathema to libertarian principles. And conservatives often oppose free trade on the basis that they prefer certain corporate elites have monopoly and economic rent. These are views that do not fit into the Libertarian Party.

Third, while Libertarians want and need votes from everyone disaffected by the rigged two-party system, Libertarians aren’t only after angry Republicans but also Democrats who feel betrayed by the DNC. The Libertarian Party has several policy initiatives that fit nicely with what Bernie Sanders was promoting, namely legalizing cannabis, ending the wars, crony capitalism, and corporatism. These are things in which Bernie Sanders supporters can get behind. Sanders won Oklahoma in the Democratic Party presidential preference primary.

Fourth, the “white-identity” politics and tribalism among conservatives is inconsistent with the ‘liberty for all’ ideals of the libertarian philosophy. This is how you get the anti-immigration and anti-Muslim ideology promoted by OKGOP politicians to this day.

I mentioned Randy Brogdon in my post because Brogdon made a political career on bashing Muslims, immigrants, gays, and opposed legalizing cannabis. Now if Randy Brogdon has disavowed his views on such things, great! But somehow I don’t believe that to be the case. And these are easy issues among libertarians. We haven’t even gotten to the abortion issue which Libertarians don’t divide over.

Conservatives don’t need a welcome sign. They need to embrace a new ideology that acknowledges the value of every human being and seeks to promote equality under the law, accepts differences in race, religion, sexual orientation, national origin, and to stop trying to use government to impose upon individual freedom. In short, they need to fully embrace the non-aggression principle (NAP).

So in the end this is quite simple to resolve. Conservatives should embrace the NAP and join the cause for liberty. But can they do that?

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