http://www.cato-unbound.org/2007/07/18/brink-lindsey/the-libertarian-ethos-constrains-the-left-and-right/ Big Ideas for a Better World Fri, 9 May 2008 19:12:59 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.3.3 http://www.cato-unbound.org/2007/07/18/brink-lindsey/the-libertarian-ethos-constrains-the-left-and-right/#comment-93559 brinklindsey.com Mon, 06 Aug 2007 20:34:03 +0000 http://www.cato-unbound.org/2007/07/18/brink-lindsey/the-libertarian-ethos-constrains-the-left-and-right/#comment-93559 [...] In my book and elsewhere (see, for example, here and here), I’ve argued that American society has shifted in a decidedly libertarian direction — i.e., left on culture and right on economics — over the past generation, and that American political culture reflects this shift. Regarding economics at least, Ezra seems to agree: America’s political consensus is almost absurdly to the right. But because people still need to run to the left of each other, the rhetoric on offer frequently sounds like the rhetoric of the left, even as its actual prescriptions are decidedly within the mainstream of our fairly conservative consensus on economics. And vice versa in other countries, where rhetoric of the right can refer to almost comically leftist policies. where the center is much further left — and in other countries, the precise opposite happens. [...] […] In my book and elsewhere (see, for example, here and here), I’ve argued that American society has shifted in a decidedly libertarian direction — i.e., left on culture and right on economics — over the past generation, and that American political culture reflects this shift. Regarding economics at least, Ezra seems to agree: America’s political consensus is almost absurdly to the right. But because people still need to run to the left of each other, the rhetoric on offer frequently sounds like the rhetoric of the left, even as its actual prescriptions are decidedly within the mainstream of our fairly conservative consensus on economics. And vice versa in other countries, where rhetoric of the right can refer to almost comically leftist policies. where the center is much further left — and in other countries, the precise opposite happens. […]

]]>