“A libertarian might be a federalist or might not be. But what a libertarian does say is that no government has the right to violate the rights of individuals. That includes the fifty states. Barr’s position is that the states do have that right. That is conservative, power-politics. That is statism. That is another form of the ‘divine right’ theory of political entities — be they the king or the legislature — to regulate the lives of people. Barr’s position is merely that he prefers to have a different level of government violating rights. The Libertarian view is that no level of government ought to violate rights. Barr’s view is not a variant of the libertarian view — it is the polar opposite of the libertarian view. Libertarians might argue over whether or not the state should exist at all. And they might argue over what form government should take if it did exist. But you can’t be a libertarian and say that government has the right to violate individual liberty and rights.” (05/10/08)