taking on Ann Coulter

Read this first.

OK. Here is my big problem with what has become of the modern "conservative". This probably goes for liberals too, but I'm responding to Ann Coulter's comments. You can't understand Libertarianism if you are working off the old paradigms of "left" and "right". It just doesn't work. It's like trying to explain quantum mechanics using Newton's Law of Gravity. The paradigm has shifted. You can't look left and right anymore, because we've added a new dimension. Libertarians don't care about conservatism vs. liberalism or left vs. right, they care about liberty vs. authoritarianism. Coulter criticized Libertarians for wanted to legalize marijuana as pandering to the left. She also adds that they should be more critical of the welfare state. First of all, every Libertarian I have ever read or heard is very vocal about the problems of the welfare state. Secondly, and most importantly, LIBERTARIANS ARE NOT REPUBLICAN LITE. Viewed through the new lens, it is nonsensical to frame your argument using "stop being like the Democrats and be more like the Republicans". The appeal that the Libertarian Party has is that it is logically consistent. Viewed from the litmus test of liberty, conservatism and liberalism fall short. You can't have your cake and eat it too. One party wants to control your money and free up your social liberties, the other wants free up the market and clamp down on deviance. And if we look at individual politicians, most just want to push through the things that will make the people who paid for their campaigns the happiest.

I could argue the definition of liberty all day, and I'm sure some of you are mentally rebutting me right now. This is not a persuasive argument. I am demonstrating that libertarians (I'm using the small "l" here, to represent those that think this way. I've been using the big "L" to denote political Libertarians. I'm doing that to show that people often confuse libertarian Republicans [which I think is an oxymoron] and Tea Partiers with actual Libertarians.) view the world differently than either party, just as much and possibly more so than the two major parties differ in world view. So to answer Ms. Coulter, Libertarians would just as soon drop 2nd amendment support as they would their campaign for the legalization of marijuana. All are issues of liberty and rights, despite whether it fits into the predetermined category of right or left. It's a simple concept. I understand that there are implications and consequences of these beliefs, and that many disagree with them or want to talk about "what works". I will appeal to people that are smarter than me like Karl Popper, Immanuel Kant, and John Stuart Mill, and paraphrase them that the greatest chance for an individual's happiness and society's success is to ensure and open and free society.

She also used a very not-nice word.