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Conservative-Libertarian Split: Liberals Get It, Conservatives Don’t
by W. James Antle III
15 October 2003

The left is aware of the emerging conservative-libertarian schism while the right for the most part remains in denial.

The truth is out of the bag: U.S. conservatives have conceded defeat in the battle for limited government and constitutionalism and have decided to change the subject. But the American right’s flagging commitment to containing the state’s ambitions comes at a price. It will be paid in lost liberty, smothered wealth creation and possibly irreversible changes in what it means to be a modern American conservative and what the project of conservatism can hope to accomplish.

Libertarians have primarily identified themselves as operationally members of the political right since the end of World War II. Today this broad coalition is in serious trouble, as many who think of themselves as libertarian do not identify with conservatives at all and growing numbers of them are finding much to identify with on the left. They are not just deserting conservative Republicans for the Libertarian Party. Some libertarians in good standing are actually thinking of voting Democratic.

Noah Shachtman is the latest pundit to point all this out. In a piece that appeared in the web edition of The American Prospect on October 7, the noted commentator on defense, politics and technology introduced readers to libertarians who are growing increasingly restive within the Republican Party. Some of them, like 25-year-old blogger and Institute for Humane Studies staff member Alina Stefanescu, could once legitimately be described as right-wingers. Today, they are steeling themselves for their 2004 presidential vote. The candidate who looks most attractive to them is not President George W. Bush – it’s none other than the former Vermont governor who has energized the most antiwar and anti-Bush elements of the left and invited comparisons to George McGovern, Howard Dean.

Why? Because instead of smaller government, free market economics and fidelity to the Constitution, these libertarians associate conservatives and Bush’s Republican Party with an invade-and-democratize foreign policy, modest tax cuts accompanied by large-scale deficit spending, a growing welfare state and civil liberties threats in the name of national security. Libertarians believe in minimal government and maximum individual freedom. For them, their association with the GOP and the broader right was a means to an end. If the right and the Republicans change in ways less conducive to their goals, the means no longer serve the end. ...