I just now saw Jonathan Adler’s post at the Volokh Conspiracy on my piece in NR on Liberaltarians. The comments section makes for interesting reading, albeit some of it is a bit hostile. I think — partly because Jon just posted a few snippets — that there’s some confusion about what I mean when I say that libertarians are “faintly” echoing John Dewey and FDR in their support of positive liberty. So let me explain.

Dewey and his crowd were certainly socialists — and nowhere do I say that any of these libertarians are anything like socialists — but they also defined liberty in material, not political terms. Freedom came from a full belly, a nice house, a good job and a decent paycheck according to Dewey and Co (Just look at FDR’s “economic bill of rights”). The political aspect of freedom in the form of negative liberties ranked very low for Dewey (save perhaps for free speech). What is striking about much of the writing coming from libertarian circles (which I treat respectfully in my piece) is how much it emphasizes the material benefits of capitalism. It’s not that they’ve turned their backs entirely on old notions of political liberty, but their emphasis is on how economic prosperity is inherently liberating because it allows the individual to create his or her own individually tailored culture. The old libertarianism, particularly the libertarianism of Meyer (and to a much lesser degree Hayek) was more concerned with the importance of the common culture and the civilizational values which inform it. Now, folks like Nick Gillespie are very high on the right to “exit” cultural institutions which don’t suit your personal fancy.

Ironically, one of the reasons I am so interested in all of this, is that I used to make the argument that Americans are more free now than ever before (I’m more on the fence now, depending how you frame the question). And when I made that case, I was beaten up by libertarians all the live-long day. I think Liberty magazine zinged me several times as did a few other libertarian, individualist or Randian outposts. Sorry, I can’t hunt down the cites right now, but here’s a column discussing it. The libertarians screamed at me that I was emphasizing positive liberty rather than liberty from the State. Now, I think it’s objectively true that many libertarians are making the same argument and I’m catching flak for pointing it out.