Democrats more libertarian than Republicans?

[FrankChodorov]

Today, a new Congressional scorecard was released by
FreedomDemocrats. org, a libertarian Democrats blog. Grading the members
of the House of Representatives on thirty votes on personal liberty and
forty on economic liberty, it shows that few members of Congress support
a broad libertarian agenda. The results of the scorecard, including a
graphic representation of the members on a Nolan Chart, can be found
online at the following link: http://freedomdemocrats.org/ node/812

Over the past six years, the rise of "compassionate conservatism"
has eroded the Republican Party's traditional support for economic
liberty. The majority of Republicans fall within the authoritarian
quadrant, voting against both personal liberty and economic liberty the
majority of the time. Ironically, the two most libertarian members of
the House are Republicans Ron Paul of Texas and Jeff Flake of Arizona,
despite the growing authoritarian nature of their party.

Across the aisle, the Democratic Party remains committed to
liberalism. While most of its members support personal liberty, it has
a significant "populist" wing of the party that is far more socially
conservative. Despite some variety on social issues, the Democrats
remain united in support of economic liberalism and big government. Yet
because of the party's overall support of personal liberty, in many ways
it appears to be more libertarian than the authoritarian Republican Party.

FreedomDemocrats. org is an online internet community of libertarian
activists within the Democratic Party. Faced with the collapse of
fiscal responsibility in the Republican Party and its descent into
authoritarianism, it works to promote genuine small government ideas and
candidates within the Democratic Party. Although dismayed by the low
scores of most Democrats, we are pleased to note that two Democratic
members of the House stand out for having libertarian- leaning voting
records: Melissa Bean of Illinois and Jim Cooper of Tennessee, both
members of the Blue Dog Democrats Coalition.

Melissa Bean of Illinois is still in her first term; she defeated
long time incumbent Phil Crane in 2004. She scored 80% on economic
issues and 50% on social issues. Although more to the right on social
issues than ideal, she has shown herself to be a staunch fiscal
conservative (according to the old, traditional definition of the
phrase). She has received a rare endorsement from the Chamber of
Commerce, an organization that typically supports Republicans, in her
reelection bid.

Jim Cooper of Tennessee is also a deficit hawk and an opponent of
wasteful spending; he scored 67.50% on economic issues and 56.67% on
social issues. He has received media attention recently for pushing to
publish the "Financial Report of the United States." This report, which
more accurately tracks the budget and future financial obligations like
Social Security than traditional budget methods, will hopefully help
inform voters about the reality of our country's coming fiscal crisis.

In the future, FreedomDemocrats. org hopes to support more Democratic
challengers running with a libertarian- leaning platform. One such
candidate is Frank Gonzalez, a former Libertarian Party candidate who is
currently running in the Florida 21st. Please check out his site:
http://www.electfrank.org/ Another Libertarian- turned-Democrat is Brent
Benedict in the Tennessee 3rd: http://www.brentbenedict.com/ The Freedom
Democrats community also plans on working on targeting specific policy
proposals to Democratic activists and party members in order to expand
the appeal of libertarian ideas.

[Follow]

The problem with the Democrats is that they're less willing to comprimise on anything, as evidenced by Joe Lieberman.  Until that changes, they will constantly be the less accomodating party to us.




Follow 

[tracysaboe]

The most libertarain party is always the party that's not in power.

Tracy

[firsty]

The problem with the Democrats is that they're less willing to comprimise on anything, as evidenced by Joe Lieberman.  Until that changes, they will constantly be the less accomodating party to us.




Follow 

please dont use joe lieberman as an example of democrats' willingness to compromise.

one could just as easily use bush as a much greater example of the republicans' unwillingness to compromise. in fact, one could say (if one were so inclined) that the congressional democrats support of the war and lieberman's ongoing support of the war were an example of dems' increased willingness to compromise.

one could also point to clinton's bi-partisan cabinet as opposed to bush's insular circle of neocons as examples of how dems compromise more than republicans.

the issue is more complex than that.

The most libertarain party is always the party that's not in power.

Tracy

i would have to agree with that entirely. during clinton's administration, it was the right-wing "nutjobs" in montana who were the libertarians.

clap clap.

[Follow]

I think you missed my point...

Joe Lieberman agreed with the Democrat party on just about every point, but disagreed on one.  So in turn, the party turned on him, ran another candidate, supported that candidate with some huge name bullets, and ousted Lieberman.  They demonstrated an absolute inability to comprimise on a single point to keep one of their strongest incumbants in position.

They've sent a message loud and clear that you must stand with them on EVERY one of their platforms, including their socialism and whatever else they choose in order to be a Democrat.  If you disagree with them, you're out of the club.

Fuck that.




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[firsty]

Joe Lieberman agreed with the Democrat party on just about every point, but disagreed on one.  So in turn, the party turned on him, ran another candidate, supported that candidate with some huge name bullets, and ousted Lieberman.  They demonstrated an absolute inability to comprimise on a single point to keep one of their strongest incumbants in position.

They've sent a message loud and clear that you must stand with them on EVERY one of their platforms, including their socialism and whatever else they choose in order to be a Democrat.  If you disagree with them, you're out of the club.

Fuck that.
Follow 

it wasnt simply "one" issue. it was an issue that a vast majority of americans are trending towards disagreeing with joe l about. it's not fair to refer to the war with iraq as simply one issue in a broad platform.

i'm not saying that the dems are best party to associate with libertarianism. personally, i dont think either party has the interests of the individual in mind. i think neither party is suited to take on the role of promoting a libertarian platform. it's also possible, within the range of issues faced on the local levels, for members of either party to embrace libertarian causes. but not on a large scale. the money simply isnt there.

[FrankChodorov]

The problem with the Democrats is that they're less willing to comprimise on anything, as evidenced by Joe Lieberman.  Until that changes, they will constantly be the less accomodating party to us.

Joe Lieberman is a republican...

[Fluff and Stuff]

The top link did not work.

[FrankChodorov]

The top link did not work.

sorry - fixed them all...

nice to know someone was interested enough to take a look...

[Follow]

The problem with the Democrats is that they're less willing to comprimise on anything, as evidenced by Joe Lieberman.  Until that changes, they will constantly be the less accomodating party to us.

Joe Lieberman is a republican...

So are most Libertarians in politics.




Follow 

[firsty]

here is another take on things:

http://www.alternet.org/story/40482/

The media like a simple story line -- and Joe Lieberman's defeat in the Connecticut Senate primary fits the bill: Pro-war senator goes down. Anti-war progressives ascendant, Republicans gleeful, and so forth. But Lieberman is more than an ally in the Bush administration's dissembling on Iraq. He is yet another example of someone who came to Washington as a purported idealist and turned into a creature of the capital's big-money culture. Lieberman's loss is a loss for Cheney and Rumsfeld to be sure, but it's also a loss for an army of sleazy political operatives and consultants.

[Fluff and Stuff]

Here is what I got from that.  2 members of the house really do support small government (based off the bills used) and they are both members of the GOP.  Around 8 others pretty much support it and they tend to be GOP members but not all of them are.  Th GOP has a lot of people that support small government on a few economic issues.  The DNC has lots of people that support small government on a few personal issues.  Overall, the vast majority of people in the house are big supports of big government.

No suprises for me.  It still makes more sense for a liberty lover to work within the GOP than the DNC (if they have to work within a major party).

[dalebert]

They've sent a message loud and clear that you must stand with them on EVERY one of their platforms, including their socialism and whatever else they choose in order to be a Democrat.  If you disagree with them, you're out of the club.

About half of Libertarians are pro-life. Unrestricted abortion is the Holy Grail for Democrats. Touch it, and you are dead to them. The Republicans pissed me off and convinced me to leave because their politicians in power won't stand up for what they (presumably) believe, but the Democrats are a truly conformist, collectivist party. They are the borg.

Frank, I wish that organization luck. They are our allies, but I won't be banking on them.

[Fluff and Stuff]

About half of Libertarians are pro-life. Unrestricted abortion is the Holy Grail for Democrats.

From what I have seen, I'd say less than 1/4 of LP members are against abortions in all cases.

[CNHT]

The problem with the Democrats is that they're less willing to comprimise on anything, as evidenced by Joe Lieberman.  Until that changes, they will constantly be the less accomodating party to us.

Joe Lieberman is a republican...

So are most Libertarians in politics.

Follow 

Lieberman is NOT a Republican. Moreover he is NOT a NH Republican.

The NHLA index does not lie. 99% of those who scored an A as good 'libertarians' are listed as R's...simply a reality of the two-party system for those who choose to work within the system.

Republicanism in NH seems to have a much bigger tent than the Democrats as Follow has noticed.

But then again, as long as one votes the most liberty-oriented way, letters do not matter. So Frank should stop trying now to 'sell' you on the Democrats.

Frank's problem is, he is always trying to 'sell' you something, because he is like a cult leader sniffing out and luring the disenfranchised to follow one idea or system or another than he has concocted. And there are many disenfrachised on this forum...who hopefully are not easily co-opted.

The people who have moved to NH want rules, regulations, laws and orders rolled back. That is a big enough job already. They do not want to be organized. They aren't looking to buy into yet another 'system'.

When you gonna figure this out?