Here's Part One of a two-parter defending libertarianism from Slate and Newsweek. A sliver:
It was Weisberg's Nietzsche moment. In other words, even if you're an atheist (as I am), you might feel a bit funny yelling "God is dead" from your rooftop while a mega-church is being built a block away. Likewise, whether or not you agree with free exchange among consenting adults, it might be a tad premature to stick a fork in libertarianism mere months before Hayek's Road to Serfdom hits sales records. Of course, Weisberg couldn't have anticipated the popular tea party movement. And in fairness, he wasn't arguing libertarianism "the movement" was dead. Just the concepts. He wanted to claim that the financial meltdown of 2008 proved laissez-faire economics was intellectually "bankrupt" and its precepts had somehow brought the nation to its knees.
Part Two should be up this afternoon.
(Update: Part Two)
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