Notes from the Middleground

Notes from the Middleground

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Notes from the Middleground
Notes from the Middleground
The Libertarian Temptation
Eyes on the Right

The Libertarian Temptation

Skepticism about government has its place in our politics, but it needs to be tempered and balanced by the opposite impulse

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Damon Linker
Jun 05, 2023
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Notes from the Middleground
Notes from the Middleground
The Libertarian Temptation
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Thousands of campers jam the sandy beach at Oceano Dunes State Vehicular Area (SVRA) under a thick Labor Day Weekend fog on August 31, 2019, near Pismo Beach, California. (Photo by George Rose/Getty Images)

It’s pretty amazing, when you think about it, that I’ve been writing intensively about the right for over a year now and have yet to devote a post to the place of libertarianism within it. There are actually two reasons for my reticence. One is the changing fortunes of libertarianism in the Republican Party over the past few years. The other is the depth of my own ambivalence about libertarianism and its enormous influence on American politics.

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Libertarianism: In Decline—and More Influential Than Ever?

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