FELLOW TRAVELERS

Shannon Davis, who hates Ottawa, has returned to the blogosphere with a wonderful post noting one of the main reasons that many of us self-proclaimed libertarians are more comfortable with the 'Religious Right' than the 'Tolerant Left.'

... most lefties don't really seem to be in favour of freedom as a general principle. They are in favour of their own freedom to do what they want, and they are in favour of other people's freedom to do stuff they approve of. But they are opposed to giving other people the freedom to do stuff they disapprove of, or even the freedom not to do stuff that other people want them to do. Well, if your definition of freedom doesn't include the freedom to make choices you disagree with, then it's not really freedom you're talking about, is it?

...

Right now, in Canada at least, it seems like social conservatives are generally more on the side of freedom than lefties are. I don't think social conservatives are inherently more freedom-loving than lefties, but they see their own freedoms being threatened and so are more inclined to care about freedom. Of course, if they were a larger, more powerful group, I wouldn't be surprised to see them aiming to impose their beliefs on others and trying to limit others' freedom. But since they're not that powerful and they are concerned about limitations on their own freedom, I see them as being mostly on the side of the good guys, at least for now.