Liberals and Libertarians Find Common Ground in House - NYTimes.com - Jonathan Weisman:
July 15, 2014 - "From abortion to electronic privacy to background checks for gun purchases, a strange thing has been happening on the floor of the House as it debates its spending bills for the coming fiscal year: the stirrings of liberalism.
The House on Thursday voted 221 to 200 to approve an amendment by one of its most vocal liberal members, Representative Rosa DeLauro, Democrat of Connecticut, to ban federal contracts for companies that set up sham headquarters in offshore tax havens like Bermuda. Thirty-four Republicans bucked their party to push it to passage....
"On May 30, 49 Republicans crossed the aisle to approve language barring the federal government from raiding medical marijuana dispensaries....
"The day before, 76 Republicans joined Democrats to add $19.5 million to the federal instant background check system for gun purchases. The House Appropriations Committee has approved an amendment to allow Peace Corps volunteers who become pregnant by rape to have a federally funded abortion and another measure limiting the federal government’s access to private email communications....
"On June 19, the House voted 293 to 123 to prohibit the National Security Agency and C.I.A. from placing 'backdoor' surveillance technologies on commercial technology products and to end warrantless collection of Americans’ online activities. That amendment, passed over the White House’s objections with a veto-proof margin, was written by Representative Thomas Massie, Republican of Kentucky and one of the House’s most outspoken libertarians, with the Democratic Representatives Zoe Lofgren, who represents Silicon Valley, and Rush D. Holt of New Jersey, a physicist."
Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/16/us/politics/left-and-libertarians-unite-to-amend-house-spending-bills.html?ref=politics&_r=2
'via Blog this'
July 15, 2014 - "From abortion to electronic privacy to background checks for gun purchases, a strange thing has been happening on the floor of the House as it debates its spending bills for the coming fiscal year: the stirrings of liberalism.
The House on Thursday voted 221 to 200 to approve an amendment by one of its most vocal liberal members, Representative Rosa DeLauro, Democrat of Connecticut, to ban federal contracts for companies that set up sham headquarters in offshore tax havens like Bermuda. Thirty-four Republicans bucked their party to push it to passage....
"On May 30, 49 Republicans crossed the aisle to approve language barring the federal government from raiding medical marijuana dispensaries....
"The day before, 76 Republicans joined Democrats to add $19.5 million to the federal instant background check system for gun purchases. The House Appropriations Committee has approved an amendment to allow Peace Corps volunteers who become pregnant by rape to have a federally funded abortion and another measure limiting the federal government’s access to private email communications....
"On June 19, the House voted 293 to 123 to prohibit the National Security Agency and C.I.A. from placing 'backdoor' surveillance technologies on commercial technology products and to end warrantless collection of Americans’ online activities. That amendment, passed over the White House’s objections with a veto-proof margin, was written by Representative Thomas Massie, Republican of Kentucky and one of the House’s most outspoken libertarians, with the Democratic Representatives Zoe Lofgren, who represents Silicon Valley, and Rush D. Holt of New Jersey, a physicist."
Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/16/us/politics/left-and-libertarians-unite-to-amend-house-spending-bills.html?ref=politics&_r=2
'via Blog this'
So as not to confuse newcomers to the ideology or offend long-time libertarians, I should point out that as many as half the examples in this article are questionably, if at all, libertarian issues. For a pretty harsh examination of that, see David Harsanyi's article in The Federalist, "A Short Lesson on Libertarianism for the New York Times"
ReplyDeletehttp://thefederalist.com/2014/07/16/a-short-lesson-on-libertarianism-for-the-new-york-times/'
So, while these ad hoc libertarian alliances look real enough, they're not the only left-right coalition-building going on in the House. What made the article worthy enough to run anyway, IMO, was the positive NYT focus on the libertarian element; it's a welcome change from the more common negative focus, which is itself a welcome change from the previously more common indifference. As was famously said at Woodstock: "It's the Times, man! The New York F***in' Times! And we're in it!"