I’m lead to believe Paul Waldman is both blind and def. Why is this? Because he doesn’t believe libertarians are speaking up about what’s going down in Ferguson, Missouri:
The shooting death by police of Ferguson, MO teenager Michael Brown, and what has happened in the aftermath, has been blanketing the news for the past few days. It’s a story about race, but it’s also become a story about the power of the state and how it’s wielded, and against whom.
So my question is this: Where are the libertarians?
[…]
You would also have thought that libertarians would be using the police reaction to the protests over Brown’s killing as a case study in the needless and dangerous militarization of the police.
Can Mr. Waldman really be this naive? After all, he works for the same damned publication as Radley Balko who has been covering this story on the Washington Post. Prominent libertarian magazine Reason has also been covering this story. The front page of the Libertarian subreddit (which I wouldn’t call overly libertarian but it’s libertarian enough for Mr. Waldman) is filled mostly with articles about this story. So what the Hell is Mr. Waldman prattling on about? Well, as you will soon see, he isn’t actually asking about the libertarians. He’s asking about Rand Paul:
But there has been a near-total silence from prominent libertarians on this issue. Senator Rand Paul, right now America’s most prominent libertarian (yes, I know, some don’t consider him a real libertarian), hasn’t said anything about the case — no public comments, no news releases, nothing on Twitter, nothing on Facebook.
Mr. Waldman is correct in that some don’t consider Rand Paul a real libertarian. For example, Rand Paul doesn’t consider Rand Paul to be a real libertarian. So it’s dishonest to say he is America’s most prominent libertarian when the man doesn’t consider himself a libertarian. This just goes to show that if you narrow the field enough you can make up whatever claim your heart desires.
If Mr. Waldman can’t find the libertarians discussion this story he needs to overcome his own laziness, pick up his phone, and call his coworker Mr. Balko up.