The Republicans’ Struggle
Great article about the problems facing the Republicanism/conservatism written by Judge Richard Posner. The whole thing’s worth a read, but below are some excerpts:
…the Republican Party [falls] into three main groups: believers in (1) free markets, low taxes, and small government; (2) believers in tough criminal laws and a strong foreign policy; and (3) social (mainly religious) conservatives, who are hostile to abortion, gay marriage, pornography, and gun control. Groups (2) and (3) converge on hostility to illegal immigrants. Groups (1) and (2) are in some tension because a national security state requires big government and therefore high taxes. Group (1) is in tension with (3) because (1) is libertarian and (3) is regulatory.
All three groups have been hurt by recent events, and all three are moving apart because of the hits on the others. The financial crisis has hit economic libertarians in the solar plexus, because the crisis is largely a consequence of innate weaknesses in free markets and of excessive deregulation of banking and finance, rather than of government interference in the market. Believers in a strong foreign policy have been hurt by the protracted and seemingly purposeless war in Iraq (the main effects of which seem to have been discord between the United States and its allies, increased recruitment of Islamic terrorists, and the strengthening of Iran and of the Taliban in Afghanistan and of al Qaeda in Pakistan) and the Bush Administration’s lack of success in dealing with Iran, North Korea, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and the Arab-Israeli conflict. And social conservatives have been hurt by the stridency of some of their most prominent advocates, who all too often give the appearance of being mean-spirited, out-of-touch, know-nothing deniers of science (e.g., evolution, climate change).
Wow, Lefty is referencing a torture advocate — When reviewing Alan Dershowitz’s book, “Why Terrorism Works: Understanding the Threat, Responding to the Challenge”, Posner wrote in The New Republic, September 2002 that “If torture is the only means of obtaining the information necessary to prevent the detonation of a nuclear bomb in Times Square, torture should be used—and will be used—to obtain the information. … no one who doubts that this is the case should be in a position of responsibility.
He advocated torture in the specific ‘ticking bomb’ scenario where the person in custody definitely knows how to short circuit the attack. He doesn’t advocate rounding people up and waterboarding them to see if any info turns up.
In any event, I’m glad you respect him.
bb: do you agree with his assertion that: “The financial crisis has hit economic libertarians in the solar plexus, because the crisis is largely a consequence of innate weaknesses in free markets and of excessive deregulation of banking and finance, rather than of government interference in the market.”
Lefty,
Not really. There is plent of blame to go around, but adding regulations IMHO seldom if ever solves problems.
I also disagree with his analysis of the three groups comprising the GOP. But I don’t fault him because he is not a Republican…just another outsider trying to provide advice.
[...] The Republicans’ Struggle …the Republican Party [falls] into three main groups: believers in (1) free markets, low taxes, and small government; [...]
What about the fourth “group” Lefty???
Criminals.