I have often said that if you want to know the libertarian position on any issue at all — from foreign policy to the drug war, from taxes to censorship, from the welfare state to gun control — just look at Joe Lieberman’s position. The libertarian position will be the exact opposite. Lieberman is genuinely impressive, in a perverse, stomach-churning way, in his absolutely unwavering authoritarianism.
I mean, even total douchebags like Chuck Schumer and Barney Frank will occasionally stumble upon a pro-freedom position on some random issue, like the proverbial blind squirrel finding the acorn. But not my Joey! He is 100% committed to stamping out freedom in every facet of life.
I am reminded of the infallibility of Lieberman the Totalitarian by today’s news that Lieberman wants accused Times Square wannabe bomber Faisal Shahzad tried before a military tribunal rather than receive due process in a court of law. Undaunted by the fact that Shahzad is a U.S. citizen accused of committing a crime on U.S. soil, Lieberman proposes changing the law to automatically strip the citizenship of anyone accused of domestic terrorism.
Never mind the fact that an accusation is just that — the prosecution’s word against the defendant. In Lieberman’s Queen of Hearts world, it’s verdict first, trial later.
(And yes I understand that Shazad is supposedly freely admitting to his crime. Lieberman’s proposal would apply to other terrorism suspects, some of whom might actually be innocent. Does Richard Jewell ring a bell?)
Does he really not realize how flat-out insane it sounds to propose that the government be allowed to revoke someone’s citizenship just because the cops accused him of a crime? Or is he just that much of a raging asshole? As the kids at Fox News like to say, we report, you decide.