Tweet [1]
Here’s a letter to the Washington Post:
Editor:
Henry Olsen is correct that Rep. Justin Amash’s libertarianism is today out of place in politics (“Justin Amash is a man without a party. That’s because no party can win with his ideas [2],” July 5). This reality is unsurprising given the embrace, by both major U.S. political parties, of the philosophy that the state should be constrained by little more than the need to assemble majoritarian coalitions, however fleeting, in its efforts to bestow privileges on favored groups at the expense of demonized ones. Today’s Republicans and Democrats differ from each other only in their identification of which groups to favor and which to demonize.
Neither of these parties acts in accordance with the natural-rights, pro-freedom principles enunciated in the Declaration of Independence or governs in ways that are consistent with the text of the Constitution. In stark contrast, Rep. Amash is one of the few modern elected officials in Washington who takes seriously his oath to uphold the Constitution – a document that he rightly understands in light of the principles embodied in the Declaration.
How sad that Mr. Olsen, treating as sacrosanct the public’s gluttonous demands for unconstitutionally created government privileges, flings contempt at Rep. Amash for adhering to the creed that gave birth to America by refusing to pander to rent-seekers and power-mongers.
Sincerely,
Donald J. Boudreaux
Professor of Economics
and
Martha and Nelson Getchell Chair for the Study of Free Market Capitalism at the Mercatus Center
George Mason University
Fairfax, VA 22030