A Libertarian Critique of John McCain

Complete video at: http://fora.tv/2008/01/08/John_McCain_Myth_of_a_Maverick

Reason Magazine Editor-In-Chief Matt Welch offers a libertarian's critique of Arizona Senator and Republican Presidential candidate John McCain.

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John McCain is one of the most familiar figures in American politics, a figure with great appeal to many. However, his concrete governing philosophy and actual track record have been left unexamined. Matt Welch's new book McCain: The Myth of a Maverick gives a flesh-and-bones political portrait of a man onto whom people project their own ideological fantasies. It is the first realistic assessment of what a John McCain presidency might look like.

Welch lays out the root cause of the senator's worldview: his personal transformation from underachieving youth to war hawk, in which he used the "higher power" of American nationalism to save his life and soul - Cato Institute

Matt Welch is editor in chief of Reason magazine.

From 2002 to 2006, Welch worked at Reason as an associate editor and media columnist. From 2002 to 2004, he also wrote a regular "Letter from California" column for Canada's National Post newspaper and contributed to the Online Journalism Review; WorkingForChange.com (for whom he covered Ralph Nader's 2000 presidential campaign); and the now-defunct Los Angeles tech/biz magazine Zone News.

Welch's work has appeared in The Washington Post, Columbia Journalism Review, Los Angeles Daily News, Orange County Register, LA Weekly, ESPN.com, Salon.com, Wired, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, The Daily Star of Beirut, and dozens of other publications.

Before 1998, Welch lived for eight years in Central Europe, where he co-founded the region's first post-communist English-language newspaper, Prognosis, worked as UPI's Slovakia correspondent and managed the Budapest Business Journal.

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[Sugarpants78]

Anyone ever notice that when Libertarianism is discussed, there's a very intellectual quality to the discussion even with those who disagree, but when it's the standard red state vs. blue state argument it's always, "OMG! YOU ARE NAZIS!!!1111ONEONEONE"

[TheAttackRat]

@drunkenboxer1985 the irony is, public education is doing a great deal of the dumbing down. and these dumb people with genuine concerns tend to 'remedy' public education with more gov intervention. and then you have 'social lib's, (an oxymoron, really) and lefty's that seem to be allergic to economics... sigh, it's frustrating being a libertarian.

[scienceatheism]

Wait until you meet a a Lefty Libertarians outside of America. They are angry that we even use the term Libertarianism.

[GreedX23]

@jtizz711 Im American. I have a higher awareness and higher intelligence level than most other Americans. But i see what you mean.

[jtizz711]

Also, you could be a good politician if you slowed it down a little bit....i can understand this but the dumb ass half of america couldn't....think about it

[jtizz711]

This kind of discussion has been mostly silent in government over the past few years. Not since the days of Gore Vidal and William F. Buckley has this kind of  intellectual call for freedom been discussed. This state of fear in government is history repeating itself. But whenever this has has happened, it never ends good for the people.

-Peace from NC

[LightofJah81]

@drunkenboxer1985 on the contrary my brother, anyone who believes and GRASPS the concepts of freedom and civil liberty are already aware of the government's current authoritarian excursions. People like you and I, the ones who are aware of this, are the minority of the country, and it is we that breed a revolutionary period. The way to do this is to raise awareness among the majority of the people. Once that is done, the revolution (or reform) will be prevalent and perfectly possible.

[Madfoot713]

I actually liked McCain. In 2000. Before he turned to the dark side and became Darth Vader.

[sleedolfine15]

It figures that McCAIN'S favorite president was Teddy Roosevelt who also was a national greatness politician.

[timbosforporn]

I agree with this speaker but democrats are just as bad in that they want to manage the economic system (cough cough communist). Its all based on the idea and individual's bad behavior can only be redeemed through the collective. The state must act in order to fix individuals.

[sandythebear]

When did mccain become a puppet? like 1986?