2 Responses to “RadMod Platform - Why “The Radical Moderate””

1. Bryce Says:
   September 17th, 2006 at 8:46 pm

   Hello Tim,

   I fell upon your Website for the first time yesterday and have since bookmarked it and spent a good number of hours reading much of the material on it.

   I’ve come to learn from reading your bio we share a lot in common that goes beyond our similar political slants.

   I too came from humble, if not quite impoverished beginnings in the Midwest, in my case, rural Minnesota.

   I too found myself in the military (United States Marine Corps — Hoo ra!) immediately after high school at the ripe age of 17.

   I too served four years, received an honorable discharge and floundered for too many years under-educated and under-employed.

   Too poor to own a car, I rode a bike 10 miles to my job as a graveyard shift security guard for over five years. I recall being chewed out by an 11-year-old brat for closing the gate (of the gated community I guarded) 10-minutes too early as his rich daddy stood approvingly by. I had no benefits to speak of, generally got treated like a nave with a scarlet letter on my back – and all this grandeur was for a pay rate barely over minimum wage.

   Those years and the ten-or-so more that followed in that occupational vein not only illustrated to me the dire need for an education, but it formed in me many of the views you convey on your site.

   I am solidly convinced right wing nuts and left wing moon howlers are simply mirror images of themselves. Much as they subscribe to the delusion they’re so-o-o different from each other.

   I’ve learned those who wear religion on their sleeves and make every effort to ensure everyone knows just how pious they are are the first ones to suspect when a spate of child molestations flares up. They’re the ones who stand out among the rest of us as the most bigoted, hateful, and dangerous SOBs humanity produces – and they’re everywhere. So, I’m pleased to see you shed so much light on them.

   Let me close by saying that while I haven’t taken a path into a law career as you have, I have (finally! — now that I’m in my forties and have scratched and scraped my way to it) found a great career as a Web programmer at UC Davis.

   I’m compelled to share that only because you know as well as I the hardships of busting your hump for so little in return, and sharing the happy ending to the “character building” phase in life seemed in order.

   Anyway, thanks for the great site.

   Regards,

   Bryce Grant

   Sacramento, CA

2. nicrivera Says:
   October 12th, 2006 at 3:40 pm

   Tim,

   I’ve already written elsewhere on this site about why I disagree with Kos calling himself a “libertarian democrat”, so I won’t rehash that argument.

   However, in regards to your argument against economic libertarianism, I think your argument begs the question: just how much government involvement in the economic sphere can a “libertarian democrat” advocate before their views cannot really be considered libertarian?

   You seem to subscribe to the 2-dimensional political spectrum that posits a personal/individual axis and a fiscal/economic freedom axis (AKA the Nonal Chart). I tend to use this model as well; however, I think it’s important to recognize its flaws.

   For one thing, many libertarians whose ideas I’ve read or listened to have pointed out that the distinction between personal/individual liberties and fiscal/economic liberties becomes somewhat arbitrary at a certain level since many political issues involve the government infringing on BOTH our personal/individual liberties AND our fiscal/economic liberties.

   Consider the War on Drugs, for example. I tend to think of this as a personal/individual freedom issue, and this seems to be borne by the fact liberals are more likely to oppose the War on Drugs while conservatives are more likely to support the War on Drugs. However, when you consider that the War on Drugs involves the government prohibiting the consensual transfer of a product from a willing seller and a willing buyer, then it becomes a a fiscal/economic issue as well. Virtually all political issues involve both personal/individual freedoms and fiscal/economic freedoms to a certain extent.

   I think that for personal/individual freedom to truly thrive, you have to support fiscal/economic freedom at some level. Supporting national health care would give the government far more control over health care and would run the risk of infringing upon the rights of patient’s and doctors.

   For the diehard “libertarian democrats” out there, I have to recommend the website of Terry Michael (www.terrymichael.net), who describes his politics thusly:

   “I was a traditional ‘complete the New Deal,’ programmatic, wealth redistributive, and identity politics left-liberal, from my teenage years in the Sixties until my work at the DNC in the Eighties . . . Somewhere in the 1990’s, I began drifting toward a libertarian political philosophy, summarized in my version (above) of the traditional libertarian exhortation: ‘out of the board room and the bedroom.’”

   Also, I’ve written numerous posts on The War on Drugs, Gun Control, and Foreign Policy from a libertarian-liberal perspective over at the Centrist Coalition (www.centristcoalition.com)

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The RM is a "Libertarian Democrat"

A Libertarian Democrat is vigorously pro-personal liberty, and believes government can play a constructive role in regulating our economy and providing a social safety net.