Since the Bush years, progressives who emphasize opposition to war and support for civil liberties have developed into what might be called a "left-libertarian" faction of the Democratic Party. Young progressives especially are likely to have libertarian tendencies, and it was these voters -- the Democratic version of the Ron Paul voters in the Republican Party -- who in large part propelled Barack Obama to victory in 2008 and secured large gains for Democrats in Congress.
Since then, however, Democratic leaders have spurned this part of their party's big-tent coalition. First there was the acceptance and continuation of the warrantless wiretapping policy launched during the Bush administration rather than serious reform of FISA. Next there was the refusal of the Obama administration to seek investigations and prosecutions of high level Bush administration officials who authorized torture. Then there was President Obama's decision to send more troops to Afghanistan rather than bringing the war to a close.
Now, the removal of the public option from the Senate health care bill while keeping the mandate to buy private health insurance seems to be the last straw for libertarian-leaning progressives.
When I was in college, I was a member of the Libertarian Party for a couple of years. I always found that party and most of its members to be way too extreme, but I sympathized with their ideas in general. The combination of liberal beliefs about social issues, opposition to war, and strong support for civil liberties -- along with a respect for the free market, small business, and the individual right to choose how to spend one's own money -- is an attractive political philosophy for many people. Libertarianism especially tends to appeal to young people, perhaps because of its "anti-establishment" nature and its emphasis on freedom and choice, the typical values of youth.
I have often argued that if the Democratic Party wants to grow and retain a majority, it must include libertarian-leaning voters in its big tent. In fact, the Democrats would do well to make left-libertarian ideas a core aspect of Democratic political policy. Doing this would ensure that the younger generation would overwhelmingly vote Democratic, and their political loyalty would likely remain with the Democrats for many years to come.
What would happen if the Democrats choose to reject left-libertarian ideas such as opposition to war and support for civil liberties, personal freedom and choice? The result would be catastrophic. There are two reasons why:
1. Democrats will lose a large portion of the youth vote. Many of the main issues that motivate young people to vote and engage in political activism today are libertarian type of issues -- especially the anti-war movement and issues of personal freedom such as same-sex marriage and marijuana legalization or decriminalization. Young voters will become apathetic if they see that Democratic politicians are supporting more war and authoritarian policies about sex and drugs.
2. Democrats will lose a large portion of the progressive vote. Many progressives are more libertarian than they realize. We see this in recent days on Daily Kos and throughout the progressive blogosphere, where outrage is catching and spreading like wildfire over the mandate to buy private health insurance without any public option. Suddenly, progressives can be heard making outright libertarian statements in fierce opposition to the mandate, arguing that the government has no legitimate authority to force people to buy corporate products, etc.
We are finding out that when government is not working for ordinary working people, lots of progressives discover their "inner libertarian" and stand in passionate opposition to expansions of government power. Many such progressives will be lost to the Democratic Party or will only remain as grudging supporters at the polls if the current Senate health care bill becomes law... or if Democratic elected officials continue to spurn the left-libertarian positions on any number of other issues, such as war and the military industrial complex, civil liberties, etc.
There was great potential for the Democratic Party to capture a large segment of the libertarian vote in America. Tragically, this potential is being squandered by the Democrats who currently hold the reins of power in Washington and are using their power to go against nearly all the ideals and priorities of libertarian-leaning progressives. And it's not just progressives that will be lost; it's all voters who have libertarian leanings, many of whom switched from the Republican side of the fence to the Democratic side during the Bush years. The opportunity for the Democratic Party to gain and keep libertarian-leaning voters may be lost for a generation or more.
Meanwhile, progressives and libertarians may increasingly find it useful to ally with one another and work together outside of the mainstream political structures. The reason is, the Democratic Party is becoming the party of corporate authoritarianism, i.e. big government that serves the big corporations rather than the little people. This is something that both progressives and libertarians oppose, and shared anger is a powerful motivator for people to put aside their differences and stand side-by-side to defeat a mutually hated ideology and its powerful proponents.
The health insurance reform bill is just the latest manifestation of corporate authoritarianism becoming the dominant ideology of Democratic leaders, and left-libertarianism emerging as the anti-establishment countertrend. Before that, there was the bank bailout and the failure of the Obama administration and Congress to push for truly meaningful reform of the financial system -- opposed by many progressives, independent libertarians, and Ron Paul Republicans alike. But it may be that the individual mandate imposed upon all Americans to buy private health insurance will be the tipping point that produces a significant progressive-libertarian alliance -- and sadly, an alliance that will likely form outside the pro-establishment, corporate-friendly confines of the Democratic Party.