Particularly after presidential elections that invariably get Democrats and Republicans way too riled up, it’s useful to bring Ed Crane into the discussion. Crane is the co-founder of the libertarian Cato Institute, and he’s long argued that a federal government operating within constitutional limits would make it possible for people to go to bed early on election night.
Crane’s thinking came to mind while reading a recent opinion piece by Washington Post columnist Kate Cohen. Writing about what some on the left no doubt refer to as 11/5, Cohen recalled that “The day after the election, my son and I texted, commiserating, musing, about where he might move.”
Cohen’s analysis of the recent presidential election is that it was a “catastrophe.” As she sees it, “The newly elected government of the United States of America threatens to take away the rights of my gay son and my teenage daughter,” which is Cohen perhaps overstating her case just a little, or realistically a lot. Evidence supporting the previous claim can be found in Cohen’s own column.
As Cohen explained it, “Even with a total Trumpist takeover, neither they nor I would need to flee.” Cohen’s right, of course, but why? Her answer is illuminating, but also a call for her to rethink her own politics. Members of the left historically want choice for themselves, but not for others.
Think the broad support of the left-leaning for universal lockdowns related to the coronavirus, for vaccine mandates meant to give people coronavirus immunity, for easy access to healthcare, health insurance, and all manner of other things. About so many “rights” supported by the left, they’ve too often forgotten that their own demands have imposed on the rights, bodies and property of others. Except that Cohen is perhaps evolving?
She went on to write with optimism about the U.S. in the aftermath of the election, and her optimism was not “because we live in the United States,” but “Because we live in New York.” Well, yes. States’ rights. Per the 10th amendment, powers not given to the federal government are reserved to the states or the people. A crucial founding fathers’ view, meaning a crucial libertarian view. Leave the vast majority of lawmaking and taxation to the states so that people can choose their policy bliss. If you want lots of government, services from government, and rules from government, perhaps live in a high-tax state like New York. If you want very little from government, including a lower tax rate to reflect limited government, perhaps live in Texas.
In Cohen’s case as a New Yorker, she writes of how she told her son that “You are in a good country. You live in New York state.” It’s all true, but hopefully Cohen takes her rising optimism to its logical endpoint.
Cohen revels in how “those of us who live in blue states will still have people running the government who believe in government.” Absolutely, but for one thing. Freedom cuts both ways. Some Americans don’t want a lot of government and want to live in states free of it, including national decrees.
The belief in the primacy of states’ rights whereby people are largely free of what’s going on in Washington is a libertarian one. Cohen rather unwittingly wrote a libertarian column favoring the right of the people to choose their government, or did she? Will Cohen believe just as deeply in her newfound passion for states’ rights when Americans who disagree with her view of government demand their own rights to body, property and choice in states not New York? At least one libertarian awaits her future columns for clues.
