Libertarianism--the only political philosophy that can unite Right and Left

Listen to Lew Rockwell interview and mentor feminist left liberal Naomi Wolf.  She had already started to study Constitutional limited government after the Patriot Act, sensing a fascist shift in the United States under Bush/Cheney.  

Her reaction to the Patriot Act was to do an academic review of large civilizations during their declining years.  She recognized a pattern of behavior by every government going through such a decline and recognized the signs in the United States.  She then wrote The End of America, and Letters of Warning to a Young Patriot.

Here are some of the signs of what she terms a "fascist shift" in a country as it moves away from democracy in its period of decline:

1. Invoke a terrifying internal and external enemy.
2. Create secret prisons where torture takes place.
3. Develop a thug caste or paramilitary force not answerable to citizens.
4. Set up an internal surveillance system.
5. Harass citizens' groups.
6. Engage in arbitrary detention and release.
7. Target key individuals.
8. Control the press.
9. Treat all political dissidents as traitors.
10. Suspend the rule of law.^[27]

Sound familiar?  

I would term the same change in a totalitarian shift, as it works with Socialist/communist ideology as well as corporatist/fascist ideology.

This was originally a podcast of the Lew Rockwell Show from October 2008:

Fascinating to listen to a far but not extreme left liberal/progressive with an open mind make political transitions in her thinking in "real time", when mentored by a skilled teacher like Lew Rockwell. 

What is missing from her knowledge base, and is not touched upon much in the interview, is how a knowledge of economics, specifically Austrian school economics, is necessary in guiding one's politics, and that economic knowledge guides a person directly to a libertarian political perspective.

 I believe Naomi Wolf remains primarily left liberal, but tending towards libertarianism.  She is deeply disappointed in Obama, especially as to his continuance of the wars and Guantanamo;  I think this will inevitably push her farther toward a libertarian philosophy, distrustful of any statist political party.  Time will tell. 

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Our revolution needs to begin with the way most Americans think about how to take care of themselves, and what, if any role government should have in an individual providing for him or herself.  Should we have preemptive war or only defensive war?  Do we believe in Washington's farewell address and the theme of Jefferson's first inaugural?  Or Teddy Roosevelt's expansionism, and Woodrow Wilson's/FDR's/LBJ's/Clinton's/Bush 41's and Bush 43's preemptive wars, to spread our philosophy to every country, whether you like it or not...


What legacy does our generation leave to our kids?


This is what motivates me to blog; I am trying to reach the rational and open minded person and win them over to my/our way of thinking.

Please note that I believe that there are two groups that will never convert to a small/minimal government political philosophy.  One is the corporate/banking caste that benefits so much from a strong central state that they cannot be weaned from Leviathan state.  The other is the incompetent portion of society, unable or unwilling to be net producers or even work to subsist.  This caste is too dependent on the welfare component of the Leviathan state.