Libertarians Quotes
He was referring to governments that imposed some form of morality in their citizens. Free governments do no dictate a morality and require their citizens to follow it. He was very much opposed to Prohibition which he saw as a poor government—Herbert Hoover’s Administration—which was imposing its narrow morality on all. He was very suspicious of government actions where the government claimed that the action was for moral objectives. This is a classic Libertarian view. In general, it is Fundamentalists and ideologues who want to impose their particular morality on all. See {620693} for a related idea.
When he became a candidate, he modified this position and stated that he would abolish both agencies spying on Americans activities but not necessarily abolish all the functions of the agency.
This is the libertarian-conservative flip of the famous JFK quotation {589867}.
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.
This quotation is interesting for two reasons. It is a clever put down and more important it illustrates the character of public discourse in the runup to the 2012 Presidential elections. Many of the Republicans and a few Democrats had been very successful with repeated character assassination and negative campaigning about their opponents. The Republicans had become so successful, that in 2011 with a number of Republicans seeking the party nomination for the 2012 Presidential election, the aspirants and their supporters began to apply the successful techniques against members of their own party. Frum who was supporting Mit Romney had this to say about Ron Paul, another candidate, who was a libertarian and had some views that many Republicans did not care for although he had a strong base of supporters amongst Republican voters.
Her idea of minimal government was a early precursor to the extreme Libertarians and the Tea Party of the early 21st century.
