Libbys and Proggys: Hand in Hand?

David Kirby, who apparently works for Cato, calls for more dialogue between libertarians and progressives:

...What's keeping libertarians and progressives from prancing hand-in-hand across the political meadow, violins serenading, to embrace our commonalities?

A typical, and I think oversimplified, response is that we have fundamentally opposing value systems. For progressives, government should champion fairness of outcome and demand that individuals make sacrifices for the public good. For libertarians, government should champion individual freedom and allow individuals to make their own choices and take responsibility for the outcomes.

But this typical response presents a false dilemma. It's not that libertarians don't believe in fairness, or progressives shirk individual responsibility. I think we share these values, only order them differently. Libertarians give primacy to one value over the other; progressives, vice versa. In a libertarian's mind, individual freedom leads to fairness. In a progressive's mind, fairness gives individuals the opportunity to make free choices.

If we were only to recognize this convergence, then I think we could compromise creatively, crafting strong policy positions. Let's be pragmatic for a moment (hypothetically, of course). If forced to find common ground, which viewpoint can you live with? Not which viewpoint can you agree with -- that's a different question. But, which can you live with? Put another way, which scenario would you rather choose: a policy compromise between Democrats and Republicans or a policy comprise between libertarians and progressives?

I'd opt for the latter scenario. I can wrap my mind around progressives, understand their values, and take comfort that they're reasonably consistent in the application of their principles. In short, I get where progressives are coming from. Similarly, in my discussions with progressives, I've been told they find libertarians' consistency remarkable. But, those Ds and Rs -- who knows what the butchered by-product will look like when they finish with it!

The cheerleading tone is a little grating, but overall this is a good article. There should be more dialogue between folks that share certain values or viewpoints, even if they disagree on others. That's just common sense and, I think, we are seeing it, especially on "cultural issues" like drugs, sexuality, and other aspects of personal choice. More recently, just look at the dialogue surrounding the war, especially at places like Antiwar.com.

Kirby is right to call for a stronger alliance, but let's not be mistaken: it's already pretty strong.