Liberal Philosophy

I was listening to a John Tabin podcast with Dave Weigel which I found through Hit & Run. Both men are Libertarians and something came up that I found very interesting and is the main reason I don't call myself a liberal. Tabin observed (and I'm paraphrasing, here) that a lot of liberals come to their political philosophy more through emotional rather than rational ends. They see wrongs in the world and think, "something ought to be done about this" and look to the government because they think that is the government's roll. Many have not studied their personal political philosophy and reach these conclusions through emotional means.

Emotions are a tricky thing. As a Libertarian I have pretty much the same end goals as liberals. I can identify with them more than with conservatives that value their personal traditions. The main difference is that I think we should solve these problems in a completely different way then liberals do and I've come to these conclusions with an attempt to not jump on the emotional bandwagon. Liberals are great at pointing out what is wrong in the world, but their solutions to those problems leave a lot to be desired.