I disagree with John and Donna. First of all I hardly think that Ted Kennedy should be our standard when determining whether a politician is pro-liberty. By that standard we probably shouldn?t be complaining about Governor Easley. Can?t we at least use Ronald Reagan as a benchmark?
As for John?s suggestion that we should somehow be happy that Bush is using all this freedom rhetoric, let me point out that the ACLU also uses such rhetoric. The problem is that when a politician or advocacy group uses libertarian rhetoric but follows a statist agenda it cheapens and ends up redefining the meaning of liberty. A pro-liberty policy then is defined in terms of whatever that politician (or group) does. This has happened with the ACLU who is seen as promoting a pro-liberty agenda by the ?average person? much like the Sierra Club is always seen as acting on behalf of the environment because they always use pro-environment rhetoric.
For George Bush, being pro-liberty apparently means pursing an aggressively interventionist foreign policy in order to bring ?liberty? and democracy to countries that don?t have these institutions?on the backs of American taxpayers. This is what a pro-freedom agenda will come to mean, if it hasn?t already. Even here I?m not so sure Bush cares anywhere as much about liberty?beyond making sure that governments aren?t torturing their citizens?as he does about democracy. My guess is that he would gladly sacrifice the former so long as the country has the latter. I have yet to hear him complain that some democracy isn?t free because its economy is dominated by socialism or that it is not allowing some forms of speech. The EU is considering banning any displays of Nazi symbols. Do we really expect GW to complain about this denial of liberty so long as the policy is arrived at through democratic institutions? What about the strict gun control laws in most of the world’s democracies? Where’s the complaints from the Bush administration? So long as liberty is denied through some form of democratic process I don’t see Bush as having any problems with it. W is a democrat, not a libertarian.
