More on the conservative/libertarian link, or division

In 1964, Murray Rothbard wrote The Transformation of the American Right. It's well worth reading if you want to understand the split between libertarianism and conservatism in the late 50s and through the 60s -- and up to the present, regarding several concerns.

Rothbard would be even more appalled by the transforming right is he were still alive, but there appears to be a nascent awakening among conservatives leading them back to their libertarian beginning. Just as the New Deal under FDR created a right wing reaction based on libertarian ideas of limited government, individual rights and peace, the progressive movement in the 21st century has awakened the classical liberal principles which inspired the right in the 30s and 40s, although it remains to be seen how widespread and deep this awakening becomes, and whether it's hi-jacked by religion police and war-mongers.

The classical right position was a unification of conservatives and libertarians, and the intellectuals during that time were clear in their rejection of state power, and thus, military power misused on the international stage. Just as anti-communism caused the right to veer from the internal threat of the state, today anti-terrorism may be the cause of misdirection. Make no mistake, America must have a strong defense and thwart terrorist attacks, but it's a mistake to focus on terrorism to the point of obsession when the internal threat of statism is still a greater concern.

If we don't have liberty, and if individual rights mean nothing, then we have little to protect but raw power, material possessions and empty lives. I suppose at a base human level, there is still a desire for protection, even of power and possessions, but liberty is the moral possession worth protecting.

Coercion is the path to tyranny, and even though we live in a dangerous world, America can still establish the vital principle as one of non-coercion -- coercing neither morals nor democracy (or any other way of governing forced on another country). The path of free choice is the path of virtue, as long as the choices don't violate the rights of others.

The progressives have attempted to marginalize the right for decades, but the right has marginalized itself by violating it's basic principles, and many libertarians followed suit, tempted by statist solutions to societal problems better left to the private realm. It may even be time to question the terms left and right, since they have become so weighted with misunderstanding. As I have written many times, the ultimate choice is between statism and classical liberal principles -- statist vs anti-statist -- over-reaching government vs the private realm.

For conservatives and libertarians to have a lasting union, it will require that conservatives embrace liberty in all its ramifications, even those areas of social behavior the conservatives find offensive. Also, as a nation, we all need to embrace non-intervention in foreign affairs -- the future is peace and free trade, or there will be no future.