Van Jones on Libertarians, part 1

  This the first of a four part post about these comments Van Jones made about libertarians about a month ago. If you don't remember, Van Jones served for a brief time as President Obama's Special Adviser for Green Jobs (then commonly referred to as the green czar).

  It is truly staggering how Van Jones views libertarians. At times, he’s confusing libertarians with empty-right-wing-nationalists, and at others, he’s slandering anyone who questions the ability of and the authority for government to manage the economy. Van Jones is truly a dangerous individual, not because he is ignorant, but because he wants to push his beliefs on you by force of government while he lives in a state of ignorance. I don't know whether economic historian/basher-down-of-empty-arguments Tom Woods addressed Van Jones's diatribe at all, but I know he didn't do his patented 10 minute video on tearing apart each baseless assertion. Although I won't be as cordial or eloquent, I will give my best effort in attempting a Woods-ian smash down. Let’s take apart his arguments against “libertarians” one by one.

1. “They,” the libertarians, “say that the only thing that matters in America is liberty. They say that America has only one value – liberty. ‘Economic liberty. My economic liberty. And if you stand for any other value, you’re anti-America.’”

  Certainly, libertarians argue that as far as government action is concerned, the primary concern should be to protect liberty (mitigate acts of aggression - murder, theft, and fraud). But I’m a libertarian, and I personally value lots more than just liberty. I have a large set of values, including but not limited to honesty and integrity, peace and mutual cooperation. I value my family very much. I value my fellow human, and I acknowledge that every other peaceful individual is important and deserves love and respect. I value my closeness with God. I value the relationships I have with my coworkers and my clients.
  I don’t think that those who stand for values other than liberty are anti-American. I just listed a bunch of my own values other than liberty. I would never accuse anyone who shares any of my above values, even if only one exclusively, of being anti-American or un-American. Take for example Dennis Kucinich. I happen to have very deep philosophic disagreements with him on many key issues. But I believe that he is honest and that he supports peace and the rule of law. Some of his stances on issues are socialistic, and I will disagree with him very much on those issues, but I do not accuse him of being anti-American. There are plenty of politicians, both Republicans and Democrats (Barack Obama, George Bush, Chuck Schumer, Lindsey Graham just to name a few) who I do believe are anti-American.