Bob Barr on the NewsHour with Jim Lehrer stresses that libertarianism is "mainstream." And so what does libertarianism mean? To him, it means asking the Attorney General to stop his laissez faire approach on the economic collapse, and begin prosecuting people left and right. It means enforcing the laws and regulations that are on the books. It means that, so long as Fannie and Freddie undergo a longterm "privatization" process, a short-term bailout might have been defensible. In foreign affairs, it means no longer having a "significant" presence of U.S. troops in Iraq, since the purpose was to get Saddam, and we did. As for Afghanistan (and Pakistan), it means "ferreting out the terrorists" and taking them out, both those who have done us harm and those who "are about to do us harm." And what's the "main international problem facing America"? Why, it's the "loss of [U.S.] influence in the world." He also says the two major parties represent "big government" and "really big government." Hmmm. I wonder which stands for which. Given the government we have now, big government, or even really big government, would be an improvement.

Well, I gotta give him this: What he's advocating is mainstream.