We libertarians are often regarded as part of the Republican party, or at least as part of the conservative movement. I understand how libertarianism can be seen as an extension of small-government conservatism, but I have a lot of trouble thinking of myself as a conservative. They talk a good libertarian game, but they don’t have the moves.
For one thing, give them some power, and they spend money like a bunch of drunken sailors on liberty after a 12-month cruise…except that drunken sailors spend their own money, whereas the Bush administration and the Republican congress have been spending our money.
But if you really want to see an ugly side of conservatism, you don’t need to elect them to office. You just have to throw a Gay Pride parade:
For most of us, the parade’s spectacles are nauseating and disturbing — just TMI. Nauseating because the setting is festive and fun. Disturbing because the parade allows the movement to mock itself, and self-deprecating humor invokes sympathy and endearment to fellow humans.
The annual Gay Pride parade has become a powerful and insidious weapon used to turn our community and nation against its own foundation — the traditional family.
And all we could do is stand by and watch.
(Watch? Heck, I took pictures! I’ll be posting them later.)
I guess I’m not in the Illinois Review‘s definition of “most of us,” because the parade doesn’t leave me nauseated and disturbed.
I’m not going to claim to be so cosmopolitan (or so politically correct) that nothing and nobody at the parade made me uncomfortable—I’m an introvert, everybody makes me a little uncomfortable—but so what? When people have fun in ways I don’t understand and wouldn’t enjoy myself, I try not to take it personally, and I certainly try to avoid writing pointless incoherent rants about it. Instead, I get over it. You know why? Because It’s Not All About Me.
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