Monday, March 08, 2004

What Liberals and Conservatives Have in Common

So-called liberals (or "progressives" as many of them now prefer) and conservatives (as distinguished from libertarians or libertarian conservatives) have this in common: a penchant for using the coercive power of the state to enforce their views of proper economic and social arrangements.

Because the courts have in the past 70 years allowed the Executive and Legislative Branches to assume unconstitutionally broad power, and because that broad power has been mainly at the service of liberals, we now live under a highly regulated economic and social regime.

Would the courts restrain non-libertarian conservatives if they were to hold a strong majority in both houses of Congress for a considerable time, while the presidency was also held by a non-libertarian conservative?

Don't bet on it. Sooner or later the courts "follow the election returns."