Rudy The Authoritarian

David Boaz makes the libertarian case against Rudy Giuliani. Unfortunately for Boaz, I think the libertarian case against Rudy also undermines Boaz's case (with David Kirby) that there's a large libertarian vote out there. What Boaz's study actually showed was that there's a medium-sized constituency for lower taxes plus less government regulation of sex.

Giuliani just happens to be the candidate who best represents that constellation of views. He's also in many ways probably the least libertarian candidate in the race -- someone who pretty clearly doesn't believe in any kind of principled restrictions on the power of the state, and someone who's extremely eager to see the state deploy extreme violence as the preferred means of achieving policy goals.