Liberal vs. Libertarian
Often we libertarians think of making common cause with liberals on social and civil rights issues while making common cause with conservatives on fiscal and regulatory issues.
But these are rules of thumb, as often those we think of as allies on a certain issue abandon us in favor of statism. Certain conservatives do when they give up capitalism for corporatism. And Ken at Popehat has a fabulous example of a situation protection of defendants rights in a trial where expected liberal support does not materialize. He discusses the case of an accused child pornography creator
In real life, the accused has the right to review the evidence against him. But how you feel about that scenario can help to determine whether you lean liberal orlibertarian — whether you are suspicious of state power in all instances, or whether you trust the state and look to its firm hand when it comes to hot-button issues, like OMG THINK OF THE CHILDREN!
We’ve been conditioned by the culture to expect that “liberal” and “supportive of due process and fundamental fairness to all people accused of crimes” go hand-in-hand. It’s a lie.
I think the same holds true in other circumstances, like rape trials. Rights liberals would normally fight for, say, in the case of an accused black murderer in Mississippi were totally tossed aside for white college students accused of rape at Duke.
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