On a more serious note, the right used to be primarily focused on the rights of the individual. That was the overlap with libertarians. Nowadays, they seem to focus only on certain types of individuals. The party that freed the slaves (Lincoln) and first had a black man for dinner in the White House (Teddy Roosevelt) found itself tied to the religious right in the name of votes. Over time, the religious part of the right became more fundamentalist and focused on tradition as the source of values, rather than the progressive ones they once held more firmly to. I think this has led to many people's disenchantment (not just my own.) The libertarian and Constitutionally based arm of the right have been rather diminished while all this has gone on. It did not help that the left was quite busy being fragmented and a little kooky over the same time span, so those who simply wanted equal rights for all under the law had to choose between two political factions that each saw rights as nothing more than fractious baubles to dicker over--and of little value in principle, except in determining whether they could be manipulated for votes.
On a more serious note, the right used to be primarily focused on the rights of the individual. That was the overlap with libertarians. Nowadays, they seem to focus only on certain types of individuals. The party that freed the slaves (Lincoln) and first had a black man for dinner in the White House (Teddy Roosevelt) found itself tied to the religious right in the name of votes. Over time, the religious part of the right became more fundamentalist and focused on tradition as the source of values, rather than the progressive ones they once held more firmly to. I think this has led to many people's disenchantment (not just my own.) The libertarian and Constitutionally based arm of the right have been rather diminished while all this has gone on. It did not help that the left was quite busy being fragmented and a little kooky over the same time span, so those who simply wanted equal rights for all under the law had to choose between two political factions that each saw rights as nothing more than fractious baubles to dicker over--and of little value in principle, except in determining whether they could be manipulated for votes.
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...Teddy Roosevelt was a cannibal?!.
:)
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