Now that the LP National Convention has selected Mr. Barr as its presidential candidate, it's time to remind people that there are two dimensions on the Nolan chart.
One dimension, as Mr. Barr and his allies would be quick to remind anyone willing to listen, is the fiscal dimension. This involves the believe that the best place for a person's money is in their own pocket, or safe, or bank-account, NOT paid without choice in taxes to be part of the budget of some government bureaucrat. I have no trouble agreeing there.
The other dimension, which Mr. Barr, the BBC (in its description of the Libertarian Party as socially conservative), and a surprisingly large fraction of Libertarians seem to forget about, is the social dimension. This means that your personal life is your own business.
Your relationship with God, or whatever equivalent you choose to believe in, including none, is your own business. Mr. Barr seems to think that the government should prohibit certain religions from being practiced on military bases.
You own your body, and what you choose to put in that body, for better or worse, is your own business. Mr. Barr, a former drug warrior, apparently now thinks medical marijuana is okay, but cocaine and heroin are not. He also thinks states should have the right to allow or prohibit you from putting what you want in your body.
Your intimate life, if you and your partner(s) are consenting adults, is your own business, and this includes your involvement of marriage or some functional equivalent. Mr. Barr authored the Defense of Marriage Act, and while he has apologized for the part of it which prevents the Federal Government from recognizing marriages in states that permit them between same-sex couples, he still seems unclear on an adult's personal life being none of the government's business, state governments included.
Mr. Barr and his supporters seem unclear about the important differences between the Conservative and the Libertarian quadrants of the Nolan Chart. It is important for most Libertarians to remember this distinction.
