LIBERTY FOR WHOM ? :

I have to admit I'm bewildered by the lack of skepticism with which people seem to be accepting the idea that Pim Fortuyn was a libertarian. I am a conservative rather than a libertarian precisely because I believe that Western Culture precedes and makes possible liberty and that the latter will not long exist once the former passes. But it has always been my understanding of libertarianism that the philosophy holds that one has no right to impose any such views on another. How then can Fortuyn have been a libertarian if he insisted that current Muslim immigrants adopt Dutch culture (in other words, his beliefs) and that no further immigrants (or far fewer) be allowed into the country? Mustn't a true libertarian allow people to believe what they choose to believe and live where they choose to live? Or does libertarianism allow an elite majority to dictate the domicile and beliefs of the minority, so long as the majority are allowed to enjoy unfettered freedom? Posted by Orrin Judd at May 7, 2002 11:01 PM