Lieberman Defends No Labels

I have discussed No Labels here before. It's an organization that has come to prominence lately because it is working to supply a viable third choice to the presidential ballot in 2024 if America's two parties produce the Trump-Biden rematch most Americans dread.

As much as I despise both parties -- each in the respective clutches of its worst elements -- and will enjoy seeing them panic if this actually happens, I stand by what I said earlier:

Image by Unknown Government Photographer, via Wikimedia Commons, public domain.

The best we can hope for is a ticket headed by a reasonable candidate who will not make much progress towards the worst his own party wants, and for each party to get taught a lesson.

But the idea could just as easily backfire. We could get a "moderate" Republican who "sees the light" on a historic opportunity to ban abortion, or a member of either party doing the same on energy policy. The latter case worries me the most as that's the bad policy with the most popular support, ...

Having said that, Lieberman's piece is interesting both for its demolition of the smears against that organization as well as for its announcement of a book the group released yesterday, Common Sense. Lieberman promises that the book will contain "30 policy ideas to unite a majority of Americans."

I have just learned about this, but will be very interested to see what this book contains.

Too many people confuse common sense, which Leonard Peikoff has memorably called a simple and non-self-conscious use of logic, with mere conventional wisdom. It will be interesting which this book actually contains, and I am glad that at least this organization is being forthright about what it will try to implement.

I don't expect anything I could support so much as hope for something I could tolerate or at least regard as something between "the best/least bad we can hope for" in this election cycle and "more likely to give Americans breathing room" than pursuing either the anti-capitalist agenda of the left or the nationalist/theocratic one of the right.

-- CAV