As we reported here, last Friday on his radio show, Glenn Beck went after the Nazi, fascistic, jerk libertarians who refuse to accept his newfound libertarianism. As it turns out, he was largely referring to the president of Students for Liberty (SFL), Alexander McCobin.
During his opening remarks at the 2013 International SFL Conference the same event at which Ann Coulter called libertarians pussies McCobin called on Beck to renounce his previously staunch conservative and neoconservative positions and engage the libertarian community in an open and honest way. Beck did not take well to such criticism, referring to McCobin as a grand inquisitor, among other names. Andrew Kirell, Sr. Editor, Mediaite.
Below is an open response letter from McCobin, printed exclusively at Mediaite.
Dear Mr. Beck,
There is no reason you should have heard of me before. Im just a guy who became enamored with the principles of liberty in 9th grade and grew to appreciate the philosophical rigor and enormous individual and societal benefits that flow from them. Im now a graduate student in philosophy, and co-founder and president of a nonprofit organization called Students For Liberty (SFL) that began 5 years ago to support libertarian students and student organizations.
Today, SFL has over 900 student organizations in our network, is run by over 250 volunteer student leaders who are working to change the world, runs dozens of conferences for thousands of students around the world, provides a plethora of resources to young libertarians everywhere, such as 175,000 free copies of our 3rd publication, After the Welfare State. SFL is dedicated to expanding the younger generations understanding and appreciation of the philosophy of freedom and the benefits that may be derived from it.
This is admittedly an ambitious and long-term goal, but one that I am optimistic about and pursue because of the inherent value of liberty. I am writing this letter today because of the comments you made about me on your show this past Friday, February 22, 2013. Regrettably, you called me a Nazi, a fascist, a jerk, a guy who thinks hes God. I submit I am none of those things, or at least I dont try to be. I have no intention of getting caught up in name-calling or responding to the many strawmen you constructed and then ridiculed. There is no profit in that. Its water under the bridge. So, I admit that my rhetoric may have been exaggerated during my opening speech at the 6th International Students For Liberty Conference on February 15, 2013 where 1,400+ young libertarians gathered to learn about the ideas of liberty and strategize how to advance freedom. But those comments resonated with the attendees, as your staffer told you, and the substantive point I was trying to make was apropos: for more than a decade, you worked very hard and very successfully at branding yourself as a key figure in conservatism, not just economic conservatism, but also social and neoconservatism. Not only are these not libertarian positions, but to associate libertarianism with them makes it that much harder to introduce libertarianism to more people, especially young people who are turned off by conservatism. After you spent over 10 years denouncing libertarianism, actively working against our causes, and building up a certain reputation for yourself directly opposed to our ideas, I think its reasonable for me and other libertarians to be skeptical when you suddenly claim to be a libertarian. I really hope you have changed your views and that you are committed to libertarianism (your segment on Friday included more renunciations of your past conservative positions than I have ever heard from you, which I admire). However, its going to take more than new window dressing for me and many others to believe that youre a libertarian. Show us that youre libertarian through the positions you take beyond conservatism, the groups you support, the people you invite to your show, indeed, even just in the conversations you are willing to have.
I truly hope there is an opportunity to open a constructive dialogue that could be to our, and to the cause of libertys, benefit. In fact, I emailed your team last week, on Wednesday, February 20th, before your February 22nd segment, and offered to have an open conversation about the meaning of libertarianism. I received a response later that evening that immediately shot me down. In short, the message I received was that you and your team had your own conception of libertarianism and had nothing more to learn about the philosophy, at least not from people like me. I am going to hope that this was an error on the part of one of your staffers rather than a true reflection of your beliefs, so will make the same offer to you here: I would like to have an open, honest conversation about the meaning of libertarianism with you if you are up for it. It can be a private conversation between the two of us if you dont want prying ears, or it can be public for others to benefit as well. Are you willing to have that conversation?
Excerpt from:
An Open Letter To Glenn Beck From The Libertarian Org Founder He Called A ‘Jerk’ And ‘Nazi’
