Center of Attention

A round up of recent posts by a few centrist, moderate, and independent bloggers.

McQ evaluates divergent libertarian views on the war in Iraq, cued by a WSJ opinion piece from earlier this week.

Andrew Sullivan zeroes in on Hilzoy’s “Ten Lessons from Iraq,” and picks the two that resonate most with him.

Nancy Hanks encourages Independent voters to watch Monday’s Democratic debate and make their voices heard.

Carol Gee offers an interesting round up of how the media in certain other countries see us.

At Donklephant, Sideways wants some accountability from those who propose “fantasy solutions” for Iraq.

Shay spotlights a comment about contemporary music and materialism that very well could have been spoken by a U.S. elected official … but wasn’t.

12 Responses to “Center of Attention”

1. domajot says:

   July 22, 2007 at 12:14 pm

   Whether or not one agrees with the specific points made, SIDEWAYS certainly hits on the absolutely right tone, one that should be the basis for political debate, but almost never is.

   We should ask what we CAN do, not what we would like to do.
2. University Update - Iraq - Center of Attention says:

   July 22, 2007 at 12:51 pm

   [...] House Link to Article iraq Center of Attention » Posted at The Moderate Voice » Domestic and [...]
3. superdestroyer says:

   July 22, 2007 at 1:41 pm

   To call Nancy Hanks an indepdent is an extreme joke. She would never ever vote for a Republican even if the Democratic candidate was a child abusing tax cheat. She is just an extreme leftist who is pissed that the Democratic party is to the right of the communist party of North Korea.
4. Pete Abel says:

   July 22, 2007 at 3:47 pm

   Superdestroyer,

   We’re all entitled to our opinion, but I respectfully disagree about Nancy Hanks. I have found her quite reasonable and believe she would vote for a Republican/right-wing candidate if that candidate was the best choice in an election; the true spirit of an Independent.
5. superdestroyer says:

   July 22, 2007 at 4:38 pm

   Any blogger who has positive posts about Lenora Fulani and Cindy Sheehan is not someone who would ever vote for a Republican, a conservative, or even a moderate. I have followed her site from time and time and she comes off as an extreme liberal who believes that the Democrats are too corporate and too conservative.
6. Nick Rivera says:

   July 22, 2007 at 4:41 pm

   Pro-war “libertarian” Randy Bartlett writes:

   While the number of Americans who self-identify as “libertarian” remains small, a substantial proportion agree with the core stances of limited constitutional government in both the economic and social spheres–what is sometimes called “economic conservatism” and “social liberalism.”

   Here, Mr. Barnett makes his first mistake. he argues that libertarianism is define by limited government in both the economic and social spheres but makes no mention of limited government in the foreign policy sphere. Yet true libertarians believe that the government should be limited in it power across all domains of government. Mr. Barnett does libertarianism a disservice by selectively choosing where he wants smaller government to be enforced.

   A person who believes in expanding the power of the federal government with regards to foreign policy is not a libertarian, regardless of how libertarian he is on domestic issues.

   Mr. Barnett goes on to write:

   Other libertarians, however, supported the war in Iraq because they viewed it as part of a larger war of self-defense against Islamic jihadists who were organizationally independent of any government. They viewed radical Islamic fundamentalism as resulting in part from the corrupt dictatorial regimes that inhabit the Middle East, which have effectively repressed indigenous democratic reformers.

   Arguing that the Iraq War was an act of self-defense is not only un-libertarian–it’s irrational. Iraq posed no threat to the United States. All the claims made to argue that Iraq was a threat to our security (WMDs, mobile bioweapons labs, unmanned aerial drones, aluminum rods for centrifuges, and yellowcake from Niger) turned out to be false.

   But even if all these claims had been true, one has to wonder how any libertarian could justify attacking a country that had not attacked the U.S., had no plans of launching an attack upon the U.S., and was not even allied with any country that was at war with the U.S.

   Libertarians believe that the United States government does not have the right to dictate to the American people how they are to defend themselves, so it makes little sense that a libertarian would advocate that the United States has the power to dictate to people in other countries how they are to defend themselves.

   Libertarians do not believe that the United Nations has a right to enforce its will on sovereign nations, so it makes little sense that a libertarian would defend the Iraq War based upon some U.N. resolution forbidding Iraq from building nuclear weapons.

   There’s a reason why pro-war “libertarians” like Randy Barnett attack Ron Paul. It’s because Ron Paul presents a consistent small government ideology that doesn’t make excuses for warmongers who like to call themselves libertarians.
7. Nancy Hanks says:

   July 22, 2007 at 7:22 pm

   Thanks for the link, Pete, and yes, I have indeed voted for Republicans–Michael Bloomberg was one of them. I have also voted for Libertarians and independents — I even voted for Tom Golisano once, and I have in fact voted for many Democrats too. As an independent, that’s my perogative! I vote for the candidate I feel will best position independent voters to have more of a voice. For me, it’s about the people, not the parties.
8. superdestroyer says:

   July 23, 2007 at 2:48 am

   Nancy,

   The only Republican you ever voted for was not really a Republican. He was not a Republican before he ran for Mayor and now that he is not running again, he no onger is a Republican.

   thank you for confirming the stereotype. one Republican versus many Democrats is not an independent.

   Of course you live in a one party city so I guess you have little choice.
9. Davebo says:

   July 23, 2007 at 8:16 am

   Nick,

   To be fair, neither Randy Barnett nor McQ have claimed to be libertarian for over 6 years.

   They are both self described “neo libertarians” which apparantly means “non libertarians”.

   Anyone who doesn’t recognize this just has no clue concerning the basic tenets of libertarianism. And yes, that includes Glenn Reynolds.
10. Rudi says:

    July 23, 2007 at 8:48 am

    SD If you read this, have you ever not voted for a Republican? You attack Hank’s without even knowing her. Please tell us if you are a thinking voter or a Cunningham/Jefferson partisan.
11. superdestroyer says:

    July 23, 2007 at 8:59 am

    Rudi,

    I did not vote for President Bush in either presidential elections. I find it odd that the partisans of a party that gets almost have of its votes from voters who automatically vote for anyone with a (D) next to their name would ever criticize anyone else as being a non-thinking voter.

    If you look at people claiming to be for voting rights or “fairness” you usually find an extreme liberal who wants nothing more than a one party state in the U.S.
12. Nancy Hanks says:

    July 23, 2007 at 10:00 am

    Rudi, I agree it’s very important to THINK as a voter and not go with knee-jerk reactions. Over the past several decades I have worked with many people across the political spectrum from Pat Buchanan to Lenora Fulani, from Ross Perot to Ralph Nader. I realize that’s very controversial in today’s political landscape, and I’m proud of that record. I was at the founding meeting of the Patriot Party in 1994, (which later joined forces with the Reform Party) where the delegates decided NOT to write into the bylaws that the party would be “centrist”, because that would be exclusive of the left and the right. The Patriot Party would be inclusive of all political beliefs so that we could reach out to the broadest sectors of the American people who might want to do something about the corruption within our political system. I think that’s democracy at its best.