In case you missed it, some interesting stuff at the Wall Street Journal today.
John McGinnis has a review of Ralph Rossum’s new book Antonin Scalia’s Jurisprudence on Opinionjournal (free link).
And David Boaz of the Cato Institute weighs in on the Journal’s editorial page (this is not available on Opinionjournal, so I believe is subscriber only) inquiring about the absence of libertarian voices in the popular media, juxtaposing that underrepresentativeness with Gallup poll data finding that among the population at large libertarians (and populists) are about as common as the “big two”:
The Gallup Poll’s annual survey on government found that 27% of Americans are conservative; 24% are liberal, up sharply because the poll was taken after Katrina, which boosted support for the proposition that “government should do more to solve our country’s problems.” Gallup also found — this year as in others — that 20% are neither liberal nor conservative but libertarian, opposing the use of government either to “promote traditional values” or to “do too many things that should be left to individuals and businesses.” Another 20% are “populist” (supporting government action in both areas), with 10% undefined. Libertarian support, spread across demographic groups, is strongest among well-educated voters.
I haven’t been able to locate the underlying Gallup poll on-line (and the site is subscriber only) to look at the data myself. So if anyone knows where the actual poll data is available, please post it in the comments or email it to me and I’ll post the link as an update.
Update:
A Commenter notes that the Boaz column is also posted in full on the Cato Institute’s website here.
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