I had been meaning to write about Ilana Mercer's reprinting of her book Broad Sides: One Woman's Clash With A Corrupt Culture for a while now. What surprised me about this was that she has clearly abandoned her paleo-libertarian and classical liberal positions, and publicizes this book as her libertarian manifesto.
Of course, libertarians are not evil incarnate, but it is interesting that she had tried to modify her libertarianism before embracing it fully once again.
As I've written before, my brush with Mercer occurred when I emailed her a few times over a span of a year on her articles at WorldNetDaily. Her replies had always been pleasant and thoughtful until in one email, I dared to voice the superiority of the Jews over the Chinese, and the possiblity for collective grief. Taken aback by her unpleasant and impersonal reply, I later figured out that my comments violated the sacrosanct belief in the individual that libertarians hold dear.
Lawrence Auster, at the View from the Right, has a post on Randians, in which he explains some of the positions of libertarians in general, and Randians specifically. It is a real worthwhile read, and actually helped clarify a few points along the way for me.
Interestingly, why is there a popular demand for Mercer's book, which she happily publicizes as:
By popular demand, my libertarian manifesto, Broad Sides: One Woman’s Clash With A Corrupt Society, is back in print. The Second Edition features bonus material. Get your copy or copies now!Jim Kalb writes here about libertarians:
While such people aren't as numerous as their opponents, they've established an intellectual presence and influence beyond their numbers. Their advantages have been the clarity, force and refinement of their arguments, and the obvious failures of bureaucratic management.I’ve done a small informal survey, and was astonished at the number of "conservatives" who also call themselves libertarians. With this "intellectual presence" that Kalb talks about, there is also certainly their growing numbers. Hence, Mercer's "back by popular demand" book.
By the way, the rest of Kalb's article discusses why it is difficult for traditional conservatives, and conservatives in general, to have "clarity, force and refinement of their arguments." It is not necessarily the failure of conservatives, but the inherent properties of conservatism itself.
