Much as I hate the use of the term “glibertarian,” and its associated line of thinking, I understood that it could have value as a perjorative for a particular type of fair-weather libertarian in many instances. But when someone on the Left is calling Radley Balko a “so-called libertarian” (and using the label “glibertarian”) for being insufficiently libertarian on criminal justice issues, I would hope that we can all agree that the term has ceased to have any value other than to immediately dismiss any and all libertarians regardless of the content of their arguments.
8 thoughts on “Time to Retire the “Glibertarian” Slur”
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Is your dictum to avoid any term that can be misused? That seems overbroad, my good, ummm, entity.
Anyway, he doesn’t call Balko (or anyone else) a “glibertarian” in this post. And “so-called libertarian” looks ironic to me; he’s saying that Balko, in believing that almost all prosecutors have scruples, is denying the “every man for himself and morals are for losers” nonsense spouted by actual glibertarians.Report
Look at the tags – he tags it as “glibertarianism.” Beyond that, Balko is in no way, shape, or form arguing that prosecutors don’t act in their own self-interest.
Regardless, the term is being thrown around way too much.Report
Look at the tags – he tags it as “glibertarianism.”
I saw that. Where does he apply that word to Balko?
Regardless, the term is being thrown around way too much.
As are “fascist” and “socialist”. And “Muslim” for that matter, as all are being applied frequently to our liberal and, as it happens, Christian president. Do you suggest we retire them too?Report
No – but I wouldn’t mind seeing their use as perjoratives more or less abandoned as ceasing to have any real meaning, which is really what I’m asking here.Report
Well, hell, we agree, then.Report
I see “glibertarian” like “neocon”.
At the beginning, “neocon” had a very specific meaning and really meant something. Indeed, Irving Kristol was, in fact, a neocon. The problem was that “neocon” ceased to refer to an offshoot of the Defense Hawks (related but distinct) but meant “everything that is unlikable about conservativism”… and that eventually resulted in such things as Dick Cheney being called a “neocon”. (Dude, Cheney is a lot of things. Neo ain’t one of them.)
It had the benefit of making that little vein in the conservative’s foreheads visible, though, and so it picked up a lot more use than it really deserved.
“Glibertarian” does a great job of making that little vein stand out. It seems to me that its usage has shifted from accurately defining a subset of self-identified libertarians to being used because, dude, you can see that vein in his forehead.
But I would say that.Report
Hmmm… I always thought that “glibertarian” meant something distinct from “fake libertarian”. I thought it was a reference to libertarians that are particularly thoughtless, insensitive, and (errr…) glib, regarding the effects that their policy preferences would have on the less fortunate.
Have I been reading it wrong this whole time?Report
The official Balloon Juice definition:
“a portmanteau of glib and libertarian, a person who affects libertarianism when it’s convenient. Used by those not ready to admit that all libertarian philosophy can be boiled down to “I got mine, fuck you”, or by those attempting to be polite to libertarians.”
So it’s kind of both (in fact, under the above definition, it would apply to all libertarians, which is part of my problem with it). Regardless, applying it to Balko of all people on criminal justice issues is pretty absurd.Report