Positive Liberty

I’m always astonished at how some of the very best blogs have such a small readership. It’s wrong, it’s unfair, and it’s got to stop.

A case in point is Philosophy, Et Cetera, whose author Richard Chappell has written more consistently interesting posts than virtually any blogger I can think of. He’s independent, creative, witty–and he shows absolutely none of the sophistry that so often infects undergraduate philosophy students. The man is brilliant, period.

Now can someone do something to promote him? Like give him a spot at Crooked Timber, maybe? Not like I’ve got a say in this, but if you ask me, it hardly matters that he’s not a tenured academic. He posts far more often than at least half of the current Timberites–and it’s better stuff, too.

Speaking of high-quality blogs, I’ve recently discovered Steve Sanders’ Reason and Liberty, which is yet another excellent political/cultural blog by a gay libertarian.

Not that it should surprise anyone, but it seems like all the smart, nonleftist homos eventually end up in the libertarian camp, keeping the company of Kip Esquire, Jon Rowe, and yours truly.

Is there a distinct gay-libertarian minsdet? I suspect that there is. While I can’t claim to speak for the whole lot of us, it’s still tempting to make a few generalizations.

We’re unorthodox to say the least. We have an alarming tendency to be lawyers. Our libertarianism is non-Rothbardian, gradualist, technophilic, and culturally urbane. Unlike most libertarians, we often seem cautiously optimistic about the future. Guns? Have at it. Pot? Why not! Capitalism? Three cheers.

And I strongly suspect that we all loved the sex scene in The Fountainhead.

I once promised some kind of ideological balance to my blogroll, but with bloggers like these around, it’s tempting to try to fill out an all-gay, all-libertarian list, just to prove it can be done.

In fact, I’m worried that we are in danger of becoming a genre. I hereby suggest that we pre-empt this trend by starting a collaborative blog. In doing so, we will monopolize the supply of gay libertarian blogging talent and prevent new competitors from entering the market.

Sandra Day O’Connor once said that the most important legal question facing the nation today is how we treat gay and lesbian Americans. I believe she’s right, and an intelligent group blog that made gay legal issues a main focus could easily become very important. Libertarians, too, have always made their biggest mark in legal theory rather than legislative practice, and here should be no exception.

Among the four of us, we’d also likely cover a lot of philosophy, history, economics… We might even draw a mainstream audience. Heck, we might even get a favorable nod from Andrew Sullivan once in a while.

(While I’m indulging my fantasy, I thought I’d open the floor to suggestions about a name for this purely imaginary blog, which cries out for some wicked humor. My first thought was to call it The Rainbow Coalition, but alas, it’s already taken.)

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