Excerpts from a Jan. 12 Financial Times column by Edward Luce:
millennials are more concerned about US debt than other generations, according to polls. They are also strongly in favour of free trade. More than a third of the Republican party now identifies as libertarian, according to the Cato Institute. Just under a quarter of Americans do so too, says Gallup. […] In terms of social values, libertarians are almost identical to liberals. Smoking pot and same-sex marriage both meet with big approval. The same is not necessarily true of guns. In spite of recent school massacres, 40 US states now have “concealed weapons” laws – many passed in the past 12 months. Again, millennials are surprisingly sceptical of gun control, say the polls. But it is on economic policy where they really part company with liberals. […] On the minus side, libertarians have no real answer to many of America’s biggest problems – not least the challenges posed to US middle-class incomes by globalisation and technology. Nor are they coherent as a force. Libertarianism is an attitude, rather than an organisation.
P.S. Libertarian econblogger Tyler Cowen recently asked “On net, will these trends make the country more or less libertarian?” The link is to polling and demographic data about gay marriage, marijuana, foreign policy, Congress, immigration, etc.
Brian, we’ve started a thread for articles that are small ‘l’ and not specifically geared toward the Libertarian Party. Here it is:
.https://independentpoliticalreport.com/2014/01/open-thread-for-discussion-of-small-l-libertarianism-and-anarchy/
I agree with Paulie–it’s nice to see you back!
Hi Brian, good to see you posting again, but is there a party-specific connection here? The FT article is behind a registration wall, so I can’t tell. The snippet you provide does not relate to the party, only small-l libertarianism. Cowen’s list of trends is interesting as well and some of these trends do show some promise for the LP while others seem to be irrelevant as far as I can tell. But none of it relates directly to the party unless I’m missing something.