I don’t think for a second that libertarianism (strictly defined, if one can do such a thing) is likely to sweep the country any time this side of the Singularity. I do think that going out of one’s way to irritate the libertarian(ish) values that lurk within many potential Republican voters is a quick route to further electoral disaster. So when Jon Henke over at The Next Right writes this, he makes an important point:

Social conservatives have to realize that they need the fiscally conservative, socially moderate/tolerant voters if they want to be a part of a winning coalition. The limited government message won revolutionary victories for Republicans in 1980 and 1994; it is the only viable organizing principle for the current Republican coalition. Huckabee may believe libertarians are the “real threat”, but his God, Guns and Butter agenda would destroy the Right far more effectively than the libertarian cartoons that exist in Huckabee’s head.

Indeed it would. This is not to argue that a more conventionally German-style Christian Democratic (or if you prefer, the marginally more congenial ‘one nation’ Douthatian Toryism that appears to be central to the ‘Reformist’ project) approach is, electorally speaking, a loser. It may well not be, but that’s not what Huckabee’s about.

Hat-tip: Instapundit