Desiring Machine

The Republican party has long tried to assert its libertarian underpinnings. But the reality has been that Freedom is just another effective political buzz word that conservatives like the bandy around. Republicans are no more the party of freedom than they are same party of Lincoln. They have been shot through with radical and often times conflicting social agendas that are self serving in the extreme. The current state of the party leaves much to be desired in the protection of freedom and liberty. One of the most shameful displays of this betrayal was the passage of a port sercurity bill that included a rider outlawing internet gambling and poker. During the debate of this unlawful gambling bill Democrat Barney Frank makes some very great points and sounds like a true patriot of freedom:

Now there is lots to be said about gambling, its addictive qualities, and the moral and aesthetic pros and cons. But my interest politically is much broader. This is a genuine opportunity for Democrats on the left to take back and own the concept of freedom and the positive aspects of libertarian philosohpy. Many on the left deeply understand the problems of fascism and the tangible ways that the republicans have eroded civil liberties in this country. Whether it is hadeas corpus, secrecy, circumvention of due process, anti choice for women, etc. But poker and gambling is one of those things that connects to a lot of people, not just the ones who subscribe to ACLU newsletters and the Nation. Taking up the cause of gambling is a way to show consistency on issues of freedom. There is a reason so much is going on in Nevada this primary season and it is time for Democrats to claim its rightful place as the party of freedom.

We need to remind people that Democrats stand for sensible policy and personal freedom. That is what “Liberalism” has always been about. Throughout the 20th century and especially after WWII and Fascism in Europe, America has been a bastion of Liberal democratic principle and enlightenment. The Democrats were the dominant party in this era, times were good, and the country and the world moved forward. Geoofrey Nunberg makes a compelling argument about the rhetorical power of “freedom” and how it was captured by the right sometime around Reagan’s presidency.

Along with the trashing of the liberal label, the modern right can count the capture of the language of freedom as one of its signal linguistic triumphs. Indeed, you could argue that it’s even more crucial for liberals to recapture freedom than to recapture their own name, and certainly more important than recapturing “values”.

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When you [the right] invoke the ideal of freedom to defend your opposition to the minimum wage or motor-voter laws, you have to pretend that it’s exactly what George Washington’s troops suffered for at Valley forge–the same thing, not a new, metaphorical sort of freedom. That’s why “freedom” isinevitably a commodius and expansive word. As the historian Daniel Rodgers noted, it’s used to “bind together the confusions and discordances of American life with a single, powerfully flexible noun.”

The defense of our right to gamble anywhere we choose as Barney Frank so elengantly does in the above you tube clip is one cause Democrats would do well champion. This is the kind of issue that resonates with a wide swath of people, especially people not tuned into the minutia of the political landscape. And when it comes to poker in particular we should remind them that the buck stops here when it comes social cultural authoritarianism. And by the way that phrase “the buck stops here“… that’s was orginally a poker term that was made famous by our gambler in chief Harry Truman, an avid poker player and a Democrat.