OK, one more before I go.
Libertarians are, for obvious reasons, disillusioned with the contemporary Republican party, which has done more to expand the executive power of the federal government than any regime in the last 50 years.
Will they get fed up and leave the party? Vote for Dems?
The American West has a particular concentration of libertarian sentiment (which, by the way, I share, particularly on social matters). What’s stopped them from voting Dem in the past: gun control, big government, and environmentalism. Dems have largely dropped the gun thing, Republicans have taken over the big-government mantle, and … environmentalism? Can the new environmentalism — focused more on market mechanisms, public-private partnerships, land conservancies, etc. — win over Western libertarians?
The inimitable Jim Henley discusses.
