EVOLUTION OF A BOGEYMAN: Bill Flanigen asks here (via Radley) why libertarianism is such a bad word for so many on the left these days and really I think it's fairly simple. The most tedious Glenn on the airwaves (Beck) is a self-described libertarian. The most tedious Glenn on the Internet (Reynolds) is a self-described libertarian. These are not the people you want claiming to be on your side. I know they're really not, but at some point you just have to admit defeat. It's time for actual libertarianism to rename itself! Liberty is too nebulous a concept anyway. (Who doesn't like liberty? It's like calling your movement punchandpieism.) Call itself...I dunno...treatmelikeanadultism? Yeah, that'll catch on. All I got at the moment.

(I completely identify with liberaltarianism, by the way, and wish serious libertarians didn't think it was a joke. What's a joke is Republicanism-in-libertarian clothing. Think most Hit & Run posts at the moment.)