If you’re a Republican you watch Fox News. If you’re a Democrat you watch MSNBC.
It’s so easy. They color-coded the political opinion programming options for us! If you’re red go here; if you’re blue go here; if you’re a nasty mixture go there.
But what if you’re neither? What if you think the Democrats stink and scoff at the Republicans being “conservative”? Or, what if you think the Republicans are out-of-touch loons and the Democrats aren’t liberal enough?
Then what?
I personally am a Libertarian. Libertarians are about drastically smaller government and restoring personal freedom to citizens. Please don’t confuse us with liberals. The root word for Libertarian is liberty, and expanding government–as both parties, red and blue alike, seem to advocate in their policies–is the antithesis of liberty. Liberals (Democrats) in general want the expansion of government, and Libertarians want as little government as possible.
I have friends who are Libertarians. I have friends that are Bush-loving and McCain-voting Republicans. And, yes, I have friends that are Obama-supporting Democrats.
I obviously am not buying what MSNBC is selling; their stuff is sold in an entirely different store, much less the same aisle. But Fox News is definitely in the same store, right?
I don’t think so, actually. The issue here is, what do Libertarians support versus Republicans? Let me give you a quick general run down of the two sides, but remember–there is no always in politics.
Republicans support the wars and the Patriot Act; Libertarians do not, and in general are not in favor of our current “hands-in-everyone-else’s-cookie-jar” foreign policy. Republicans supported the bailouts–even if they have since turned with the tide against the bailouts; Libertarians did not.
Libertarians are not interested in banning gay marriage or the War on Drugs (because if you’re free, you should be able to marry anyone you want or ingest anything you want); Republicans are at best mixed on gay marriage but seem universally in support of the War on Drugs.
Libertarians are about liberty and personal freedom. That means no Patriot Act (since it allows the government to ignore the Fourth Amendment and allows the government several other intrusions of personal liberty). Libertarians also support habeas corpus, which requires an individual be aware of the charges brought against them if arrested.
Several other things are no-no’s too. No Federal Reserve or bailouts (because when we print money out of thin air the money in your pocket is devalued—essentially you are being robbed, not to mention how the Fed has given the government carte blanche to do whatever it pleases with limit) and no universal health care (because the government does not ‘own’ health care, health care is a service, and in order for the government to give you health care that service must be taken from someone).
Where do I go for my content? I don’t know. For me, the Fox News thing works about as well as a steakhouse catering to vegans. Perhaps the best thing to do isn’t searching for opinion—like Bill O’Reilly or Keith Olbermann—and instead just finding news and making my own opinions.