The other day I and a coworker were assigned a special assignment which basically meant we stood next to each other for two hours and talked politics. My coworker, Andrew, is a hardcore Libertarian.
I generally agree with Libertarians on fiscal issues and limited government but not on drug legalization and immigration. But we are casual friends and I’ve brought him to Tea Party meetings and we are both volunteers on a current small campaign.
Though we’ve known each other for over a year and have attended political events together, this was the first time we had a completely open discussion with no one else there or no particular subject being covered in a meeting.
I listened to him rant for over an hour about how bad Romney was and McCain was and how Romney never denounced Romneycare in Massachusetts so he would never have repealed or defunded or “waived everyone” from Obamacare. Andrew also hated Boehner, McConnell, and basically any Republican he could think of. After listening to him, I asked him to say something negative about the Democrats, or any individual Democrat for that matter. He couldn’t. Maybe he tried but as soon as his lips started moving, it was all about how Republicans are not real conservatives. He literally could not say a single bad thing about Democrats. Not one. He was so programed to hate the impurity of Republicans that he never even thought about what the Democrats are doing to this country and his future (he is 24, I think). I asked him 7 times to say something, anything, bad about the Democrats. He couldn’t. Not wouldn’t, couldn’t.
Now, I’m no fan of RINOs, but I definitely see Democrats as the greater evil. Now any good Libertarian will tell you there is no real difference, but I realized that there is one major difference between the parties– Libertarians won’t insult Democrats. If your a Libertarian and want to prove me wrong please reply to this post and start your reply with a criticism of the Democrats.
I tried to explain my point of view to Andrew with the following analogy: You are in a school yard and the school bully is punching you and rather get angry and fight him, you instead get angry at your not-so-close friend who is not fighting the bully with all his might. I remember in childhood seeing similar events take place. Rather than fight a perceived stronger opponent, young boys will attack a weaker non-combatant in an attempt to retain pride and avoid finding himself on the bottom of the social pecking order.
Rush Limbaugh refers to the “left” as the “Blame America First Crowd” because no matter what bad thing happens, it was ultimately caused by American racism, sexism, imperialism, militarism, etc… and is never the fault of the perpetrators or bad actors.
After speaking with Andrew and after reviewing discussions with other Libertarians, I’ve come to the conclusion that they constitute the “Blame Republicans First crowd”.