Libertarian-Baiting the Anti-NSA Movement by Justin Raimondo -- Antiwar.com:
October 23, 2013 - "The intellectual and political degeneration of the 'progressive' wing of the Democratic party continues apace, as Tom Watson – a prominent spokesman for the movement – attacks the upcoming 'Stop Watching Us' rally, to be held in Washington this coming weekend (Saturday, October 26). Although he claims to support the goals of the rally ... he writes: 'Yet I cannot support this coalition or the rally. It is fatally compromised by the prominent leadership and participation of the Libertarian Party and other libertarian student groups'....
"Watson ... goes through the hate-on-libertarians mantra, so familiar to readers of Salon.com, including our opposition to the welfare state, gun control, Obama-care, and, oddly – for an alleged progressive – he cites with horror the Libertarian Party platform which calls for 'unrestricted competition among banks and depository institutions of all types'"
"There’s more libertarian-baiting in Watson’s screed – the equivalent, for Salon readers, of progressive porn – in which he reels off supposedly horrifying examples of the libertarians’ transgressive politics.... Watson opines that by associating with these Very Bad People ... progressives 'convey legitimacy' to libertarians – as if Watson and his fellow progressives are the Final Arbiters of Legitimacy.
"It’s a weird conceit, but to be expected coming from those who see themselves as being in power, with Obama in the White House and the Democratic party in (temporary) ascendancy. And just for color, Watson throws in the argument that libertarians are really the political equivalent of child molesters: 'And [the progressives’] own argument for privacy is weakened by the pollution of an ideology that uses its few positive civil liberties positions as a predator uses candy with a child.' Nice."
Read more: http://original.antiwar.com/justin/2013/10/22/libertarian-baiting-the-anti-nsa-movement/
'via Blog this'
October 23, 2013 - "The intellectual and political degeneration of the 'progressive' wing of the Democratic party continues apace, as Tom Watson – a prominent spokesman for the movement – attacks the upcoming 'Stop Watching Us' rally, to be held in Washington this coming weekend (Saturday, October 26). Although he claims to support the goals of the rally ... he writes: 'Yet I cannot support this coalition or the rally. It is fatally compromised by the prominent leadership and participation of the Libertarian Party and other libertarian student groups'....
"Watson ... goes through the hate-on-libertarians mantra, so familiar to readers of Salon.com, including our opposition to the welfare state, gun control, Obama-care, and, oddly – for an alleged progressive – he cites with horror the Libertarian Party platform which calls for 'unrestricted competition among banks and depository institutions of all types'"
"There’s more libertarian-baiting in Watson’s screed – the equivalent, for Salon readers, of progressive porn – in which he reels off supposedly horrifying examples of the libertarians’ transgressive politics.... Watson opines that by associating with these Very Bad People ... progressives 'convey legitimacy' to libertarians – as if Watson and his fellow progressives are the Final Arbiters of Legitimacy.
"It’s a weird conceit, but to be expected coming from those who see themselves as being in power, with Obama in the White House and the Democratic party in (temporary) ascendancy. And just for color, Watson throws in the argument that libertarians are really the political equivalent of child molesters: 'And [the progressives’] own argument for privacy is weakened by the pollution of an ideology that uses its few positive civil liberties positions as a predator uses candy with a child.' Nice."
Read more: http://original.antiwar.com/justin/2013/10/22/libertarian-baiting-the-anti-nsa-movement/
'via Blog this'
FWIW, here is a link to Watson's article on Salon:
ReplyDeleteDon’t ally with libertarians: Ideologues co-opt an anti-NSA rally
Hard-right, anti-government ideologues make poor coalition partners, even if they're right on surveillance
http://www.salon.com/2013/10/21/dont_ally_with_libertarians_ideologues_co_opt_an_anti_nsa_rally/singleton/
While Watson's article is framed as a progressive rejection of the "hard right", (in reality, the Rand Paul/Tea Party type of libertarian) Watson has no trouble with the Tea Party organization, FreedomWorks, in the rally. On the contrary, he includes that group in the list of participants he singles out for praise:
"Some of the biggest names in civil liberties and digital freedom of information will be there, including the ACLU, Electronic Frontier Foundation, FreePress and FreedomWorks. Sponsoring individuals include a great number people I admire.... Companies backing the effort include Reddit and Ben & Jerry’s."
So what gives? Either Watson has no idea who FreedomWorks is (and therefore is woefully uninformed about the issue he's writing on), or he does know and doesn't care (and therefore has some other reasons than those in his article for bashing the libertarian groups).