May 29, 2003

Revenge of the Nerds

That article on so-called "Hipublicans" continues to reverberate.

Brink Lindsey, noting Julian Sanchez's question about young conservatives versus libertarians and the subsequent strident comments it sparked, has an interesting comment of his own:

I'm reminded of a question I've asked myself before: to what extent is the divide between libertarians and conservatives really just a matter of lame "freaks versus greeks" tribalism?

Of course, libertarians and conservatives are likely to disagree on some important issues. And they're likely to come at issues in importantly different ways. But are these differences really driven by disagreements about ideas -- or about who and what are cool? I'm afraid that for many people, including many intellectual types, the ideas are ultimately just matching accessories that adorn some underlying subcultural identity. The group that the political label describes is the main thing; dutifully following and cleverly rationalizing that group's catechism then substitute for critical thinking. As for the other side, well, they can't be right because they're such ... losers.


I'm afraid he has a point about "ideas" often being employed as little more than defining attributes of a given subcultural identity. Words like "conservative" and "libertarian" seem appropriate and defensible as adjectives or descriptive categories, but seem much less so when employed as terms for a Total Identity. There are those who seem always to be saying, in effect, "Hey, look at me! I'm a conservative! You, too? My brother!" People often "accuse" me of being "a" conservative, though I truly don't feel like one. But whatever I am, I'm certain I wouldn't want to join that club, to enlist myself in a kind of identity politics of the right, which is every bit as inane as the other variety. (Moreso, in a way, since distaste for identity politics itself forms part of the catechism.)

In truth, I never know how to characterize my politics, let alone my entire self. (I'm not alone there, I'm sure.) But often I feel as though I might be "a" libertarian. I tend to agree with much of what self-proclaimed libertarians say. Buzzwords like anti-statism reverberate agreeably. I'm a free speech absolutist. I'm all for guns. However, if I ever refer to myself as a libertarian, or carelessly use "libertarian" as an adjective describing my views on this or that, some guardian of the eternal flame of True Libertarianism will instantly inform me that I have no business calling myself a libertarian, taking the L-word in vain. Apparently, it's libertarianism's illusions I recall, and I really don't know libertarianism at all. So I guess I'm not one of those. (You get this as well, though arguably with less vehemence, from liberals regarding "liberalism," even if you make sure to put "Classical" in there. Not with "anti-Idiotarian," though. Not yet.)

Well, I never wanted to be in their stupid old club anyway...

Posted by Dr. Frank at May 29, 2003 01:15 PM | TrackBack