Some of the beltwaytarians have taken to calling themselves “cosmopolitans” as a way of distinguishing themselves from us un-hip advocates of peace, freedom, limited government, and free enterprise. After a little head scratching and internet searching, I think I have an idea of just what a “cosmopolitan” is, and why it is unequivocally not the same as a libertarian. The latter is an advocate of a free society, but not of any particular lifestyle that one chooses. The cosmopolitan, on the other hand, is one who advocates, endorses, and champions particular lifestyle choices. The December 2003 issue of the very cosmopolitan Reason magazine provides evidence of this with an article on “35 Heroes of Freedom.”
Included on the list are such well-known heroes of freedom as Milton Friedman, F.A. Hayek, Rose Wilder Lane, Ayn Rand, Julian Simon, Thomas Szasz, and Ron Paul (before he threatened to spread traditional libertarian ideas nationally by running for president). To be included one must have been alive in 1968, the year the magazine was founded. Ludwig von Mises, who died in 1973; Henry Hazlitt (1993); Leonard Read (1983); Baldy Harper (1973);and Murray Rothbard (1996) qualified in that regard, but were not included on Reason‘s list of heroes of freedom.
Instead, we have novelist William Burroughs who “proved that you can abuse your body in every way imaginable and still outlive the entire universe.” Hugh Hefner gets an honorable mention for having “mainstreamed bohemian sexual mores,” but Reason‘s real hero in this regard is Larry Flynt, who “brought tastelessness to new depths.”
Madonna is on the list for having “led a glorious parade of freaks, gender benders, and weirdos” on MTV. Tennis pro Martina Navratilova heroically “was the first superstar athlete to admit she’s gay.’
Country music legend Willie Nelson made the list not for his music but for having “smoked dope” in the Carter White House. Former pro basketball player Dennis Rodman is feated not for his athletic accomplishments but for being “a cross-dressing, serially pierced, tatoo-laden” athlete who is know for his “flamboyant, frequently gay-ish antics.” Science fiction writer Robert Henlein heroically championed “really alternative sexual practices” (emphasis in original).
So there you have it. It’s not just “freedom” that “cosmopolitans” are interested in, but using that freedom in very specific ways, namely, the ways in which their “heroes” have used it. I think this explains some of the extreme hatred they tend to display toward those of us who simply have the attitude of “who cares?” about all of this and refuse to equate libertarianism with hedonism, illicit drug use, self mutiliation, libertinism. and various other juvenile fantasies.
12:32 pm on January 26, 2008
