We hawish libertarian-conservative types ? you can easily identify us by our damning signatures on the Protocols of the Elders of Zion, naturally ? are still searching for an appropriate moniker. Andrew Sullivan has come up with the term ?eagles,? but his personal agenda is far too particular to serve as spokesman for the cause. Former Reason editor Virginia Postrel stresses that she’s an ?empiricist,? which warms the hearts of true John Lockeans but hardly suffices as a distinguishing ID.

While the search continues, one central theme has arisen within the group: the importance of historical allusions. While big-government conservatives trumpet their decision to give in to the Dark Side and isolationist libertarians dream of a world in which America is deferential enough to foreign terrorists, monopolists, and thieves so that they won’t hate us anymore, we in the fusionist middle tend to focus on the actual history of the U.S., which includes many examples of how an imperfect people with an imperfect government nevertheless served to advance their own interests and the cause of freedom in the world through a mixture of commerce, immigration, homesteading, and selective but effective military force outside our borders.

A key episode in this history was the series of American actions in the Mediterranean during the Thomas Jefferson and James Madison presidencies that eventually resulted in breaking the power of the Barbary Pirates. Check out this excellent summary in The Chicago Tribune, complete with comparisons to today’s troubles.