What do you see as left-wing? US-style libertarians are usually considered right-wing, since (unlike libertarians/anarchists of other persuasions) they tend to put a tremendous value on strong private property rights.
This specific position (criticism of prosecutorial discretion, and the criminal justice system in general on grounds of its harshness) is a common left-wing talking point, particularly because of the racial and economic injustice it causes. Libertarians in the US are generally affiliated with the right wing, especially (as you noted) on economic issues, but on the issue in this article they are closer to the left.
First of all, the whole "left wing / right wing" spectrum is an outdated, archaic legacy of a bygone age, and has no place in modern society at all.
That said, to the extent that you can squint real hard and find some meaning in the idea of "right wing" or "left wing", American libertarians are typically described as "simultaneously left of left, and right of right".
Ultimately that just goes to illustrate exactly the point that a simple one dimensional spectrum cannot even begin to model the diversity of political beliefs in the world.
> First of all, the whole "left wing / right wing" spectrum is an outdated, archaic legacy of a bygone time and has no place in modern society at all.
Not really. It doesn't tell the whole story, but it reflects a real and current axis of variation.
> That said, to the extent that you can squint real hard and find some meaning in the idea of "right wing" or "left wing", American libertarians are typically described as "simultaneously left of left, and right of right".
American “libertarians” (that is, people referred to that way in America) are typically right-libertarians. To the extent they sometimes seem left, it's because some of the popular perception of the right is set by right authoritarians.
It doesn't tell the whole story, but it reflects a real and current axis of variation.
Actually it conflates and muddles several different axes of variation, leaving a situation where almost nobody is actually correctly described by the term "left wing" or "right wing".
American “libertarians” (that is, people referred to that way in America) are typically right-libertarians.
That is a myth which has no basis in reality. Libertarians in America adopt huge swathe of positions which are more typically associated with the "left wing" label: drug decriminalization, opposition to the death penalty, religious freedom, etc. The fact that they tend to take those same issues even further than others is how you wind up with the "left of left, and right of right" label:
Typical American "left wing" position: decriminalize weed
Typical American libertarian position: eliminate all drug laws, what you put in your body is no business of the State.
So, "left of left".
Typical American "right wing" position: "lower taxes"
Typical American libertarian position: "taxation is theft, end all taxes".
So, right of right.
You really can't model things in a sufficiently rich way to describe Libertarianism on a one-dimensional spectrum like the left/right scale. It just doesn't work.
> Libertarians in America adopt huge swathe of positions which are more typically associated with the "left wing" label
Libertarians in America are more likely to agree with the left on issues where the left believes the government should be inactive, sure, but they tend to agree with the right on what the important functions of government are.
> Typical American "left wing" position: decriminalize weed
That's just the typical American opinion, now. But, sure, most on the left would go at least that far.
> Typical American libertarian position: eliminate all drug laws
Not really; the scattered polling I've seen over the years have shown self-described libertarians as only slight more supportive of legalization of any drugs (even just marijuana) as the US public as a whole, much less the left.
Similarly on your other points.
> You really can't model things in a sufficiently rich way to describe Libertarianism on a one-dimensional spectrum like the left/right scale.
Libertarianism is at least another axis, sure, and even that is more about broad categorization. And it may not even be the second most significant axis in US politics; there's a race policy axis that has historically been stronger.
> Not really; the scattered polling I've seen over the years have shown self-described libertarians as only slight more supportive of legalization of any drugs (even just marijuana) as the US public as a whole, much less the left.
Reason is not your average rank-and-file libertarian; it's an ideological paper. Think average Republican voter vs. National Review columnists. Do a quick search for "marijuana" and you'll get stories that speak positively of legalization; search for "MDMA" and you'll get stories celebrating its approval for treatment of PTSD. Again - this article takes a position traditionally associated with the left-wing, because this particular publication takes a classical ideological libertarian position.
They call themselves libertarian, and they don't want to end drug prohibition? They're fooling themselves more than they're fooling us. That's table stakes.
I'd have to see this scattered polling, but this really seems like a claim somewhere between "Catholics who say they don't believe in transubstantiation," and "self-identified Scots not from Scotland," considering.
Not exactly. There's no real pre-defined Litmus test for what it means to be a True Scotsman... the whole point is that the definition is made up post-hoc. But there is a meaningful, albeit not absolute, litmus test for what it means to be a Libertarian, and that is adherence to the Non-Aggression Principle. Unfortunately the whole discussion is a bit muddled by the typical "big L" Libertarian vs "little l" libertarian dichotomy, and there is nuance to what it means to adhere to the NAP. But saying there is some nuance to the distinction is not the same thing as a No True Scotsman argument.
Everyone I know who will admit to being libertarian, got into it through his rejection of The Drug War. Could you point us to a self-described libertarian who likes drug prohibition?
This kind of bullshit, is the reason I'm an anarchist.
In terms of political alliances, American libertarians are very much right-aligned, but on specific issues they end up opposed to traditional right-wing views; criminal justice is one of them.
Part of their right-wing alignment is to downplay these kinds of issues, but Reason as an ideologically purist publication tends to play them up.
