Reason Magazine: Brian Doherty Why Are Progressives Attacking Libertarians So Frequently Lately

Source:The New Democrat

To put it simply, the reason Progressives have been attacking (I guess, how about critiquing instead) Libertarians so much lately whether it be in Salon or AlterNet or even The New Republic, which is now way to the left of the great liberal magazine it use to be is that Libertarians are all about both economic and personal freedom, which scares the hell out of people who are supposed to be the Progressives today, who sound more like Socialists and at times even Communists than they do Progressives.

What are supposed to pass as today's Progressives are those who want a superstate, not a welfare state, which is a little different, but a government so big that individualism in a lot of cases is no longer necessary because the central government will now have the authority, whether it is currently constitutional in America or not, to make many of our economic decisions for us because they would have so much of our resources that we would be dependent on them.

I only wish it would stop there, but unfortunately it gets worse because those who are supposed to be the Progressives today would outlaw many activities they see as dangerous for society that are currently legal. Certain areas of personal decision-making, such as how we get our news, what we can eat, drink, and smoke, what we can say to each other, and even to a certain extent what we can watch on TV would be regulated if they find them offensive.

I'm not attacking or critiquing Progressives. I have a certain respect for Roosevelt, Truman, and Johnson, Progressivism that is the real Progressivism, and there are actual Progressive Democrats today. Representative Henry Waxman and Senator Tom Harkin are both great examples of actual Progressives who are in Congress today. I'm talking about the far left, a real statist form of Socialism that is far out of the mainstream in American politics.