In reading Chris Clarke's post at Pandagon called "How to Explain Things to Libertarians" I noticed both a disconnect between perceptions of libertarians among the left-leaning blogosphere and my own perceptions of the movement as a libertarian, and also strong similarities between what frustrates both leftists like Clark and myself about "vulgar libertarians" (the people that read one Ayn Rand book and think they understand everything about the world and how it should be). I came up with this idea, "Ask a Libertarian," to give people the chance to ask questions dealing with libertarianism and clear up some misconceptions.
So here is the outline for what I had in mind.
First, I will do my best to respond to all questions. But part of my interest is to find out what questions crop up the most about libertarianism and use them for future diaries. So if I see the same question pop up over and over again, I may wait and post a more detailed diary later on.
Second, I will not respond to trollish questions like "Why are you an idiot?" or "What do you want to kill hobos?" Sorry. I also won't respond to people who link to the Critiques Of Libertarianism website and demand that I refute every single point. That's far too time consuming, but I encourage you to select specific critiques that you are particularly interested in knowing the response to.
Third, I am myself a libertarian Democrat. Keep this in mind with your questions. I can try to explain why some libertarians vote Republican, but I myself am strongly opposed to the GOP. See this statement on my website and this more recent post. On a related note, I will do my best to answer questions dealing with the Libertarian Party, but please remember that they do not speak for all libertarians. You don't assume that the Green Party speaks for all environmentalists, do you?
Overall, I'm looking for questions that go along the lines of "Do libertarians really believe X?" or" How do libertarians feel about Y?" or even "How do libertarians response criticism Z of their ideology?"
What I want to try to make clear is the distinction between these "vulgar libertarians" running around online, the teenage boys who have read Ayn Rand and think they are now authorities on libertarianism, and the movement as a whole. This may work out as a good idea, or this may be a horrible idea. I'm hoping for the best. I would appreciate your cooperation to keep things civil.