Man in the Middle

I can relate to Michael Totten's feelings on political parties:

Regular readers of this site know that I can relate to Jeff’s experience and frustration. And the end result of all this has been for me to finally agree and say to heck with it, I'm not one of you after all. I'm an Independent now. And despite the fact that I still hold several liberal opinions, I no longer feel any sense of loyalty or affection for the Democratic Party.

I come from the opposite end. I was raised in a conservative family (though my father was and still is a registered Democrat). When I started to learn to think for myself, it was the 1980s, and I found I was what would once have been called a Rockefeller Republican. In the time when the "religious right" (wrong on both counts) was gaining deeper and broader control of the Republicans, I couldn't stay with the Party. (And I won't go back, because the Party's positions on issues I care about are not a great fit.)

I became a Libertarian, but they were losing me even before 9/11, by being so unable to articulate a set of positions that would work in the real world. Their isolationism completely lost me after 9/11, and I'll no more go back there than I would to the Republicans.

I cannot go to the Democrats, because of their wallowing in Leftists immiseration as a kind of reflexive purging of self-induced guilt about being part of a culture that has something to offer the world besides misery.

I cannot find a political party that accomodates me. I am a libertarian, republican, liberal, federalist, free-market (not far away from laissez-faire), interventionalist, natural rights respecting American with no place to go. As Treebeard said, "I am not entirely on anybody's side, because nobody is entirely on my side." Yep, that about says it all.

Basically, I want the government to be as non-interventionist as possible in the lives and business of individual Americans, while being willing and able to spread Liberty abroad both by example and (in cases where no other method is available and where we are under threat) by force. I want the government to defend my rights, and only intrude so far as to prevent my usurpation or infringement of the rights of others. Provision of services should be minimal at the Federal level, both for tax reasons and because local solutions tend to work out better over the long run, while allowing an out (moving to another State) should regulations become excessive in any given place. I want the government to allow businesses free rein to operate, with just enough regulation to prevent or punish fraud. I want to only have to think about the government on rare occasions, unless I chose to do so. I want the Right to stay out of the front of my pants, and the Left to stay out of the back. I want elections to be meaningless. I want the government to provide a free and secure place for culture to develop, without trying to compel the form of the resultant culture. I want the government to prevent or punish discrimination by government employees, while not tarnishing the private right of free association. I want the government to provide intellectual property rights for a limited time, not perpetually.

I want a political party that would work to bring all of these about. Until then, I'm an independent.

UPDATE (1/8): Aubrey comments.

Posted by Jeff at January 7, 2004 12:06 PM | Link Cosmos