L. Neil Smith Quotes
If conservatives really believed in individual liberty, as they endlessly claim — and if they used both halves of their brains — then they'd be libertarians. Instead, they sabotage themselves, and their cause, by constantly generating one spurious reason after another to deprive other people of their freedom.
Conservatives, while favoring free markets and a great deal of freedom for business, in his era, also supported government control over personal behavior ranging from women’s rights to control their own bodies, to governing the sexual behavior of consenting adults or censoring publications or using drugs and even including the right to commit suicide.
L. Neil Smith, Libertarian Novelist and Political Activist, "Revenge of the Cookie Monster"
Sourced by: Eigen's Political and Historical Quotations
This quotation is very critical to people interested in the Libertarian party and libertarian movements. Although she literally “loathed” the libertarians of the day, almost all modern libertarians credit the modern libertarian movement have not only started with her but even into the 21st century she is acknowledged to be the largest intellectual force of libertarianism. Actually, she was a very strong person with very firm ideas, and she was criticized by some people who called themselves libertarian and did not follow her philosophy of individual responsibility and liberty. Her reaction was not only to avoid identifying with them but to differentiate herself whenever she could.
Lester Neil Smith III, better known as L. Neil Smith, is an American libertarian science fiction author and political activist. His works include the trilogy of Lando Calrissian novels, all published in 1983: Lando Calrissian and the Mindharp of Sharu, Lando Calrissian and the Flamewind of Oseon, and Lando Calrissian and the Starcave of ThonBoka. He also wrote the novels Pallas, The Forge of the Elders, and The Probability Broach, each of which won the Libertarian Futurist Society's annual Prometheus Award for best libertarian science fiction novel. In 2016, Smith received a Special Award for Lifetime Achievement from the Libertarian Futurist Society.
