Thursday’s episode of “Stossel” on the Fox Business Network featured a taped portion of a debate between libertarian host John Stossel and conservative columnist Ann Coulter on war, drugs and same-sex marriage at the International Students for Liberty Conference held last weekend in Washington, D.C.
On war, Coulter, the author of “Mugged,” made the case that there are times when unleashing the U.S. military accomplishes one of the few roles that government was intended to fulfill.
“I’m for Iraq and against Afghanistan, but to explain that in a way that I think libertarians should appreciate,” she said. “There’s one thing the federal government should be doing, maybe two — regulate interstate commerce and protect us from enemies. And the Republican Party tradition is we should intervene, go to war, do whatever it is foreign policy-related when it makes America safer.”
Coulter also explained that it was her belief that Saddam Hussein’s Iraq was dangerous enough to warrant military intervention because the then-Iraqi dictator was looking to help terrorists attack the U.S.
Coulter also said that the libertarian focus on ending the drug war “is why people think libertarians are pussies.”
“Libertarians and pot — first of all … this is why people think libertarians are pussies,” Coulter said. “We’re living in a country that is 70-percent socialist. The government takes 60 percent of your money. They are taking care of your health care, of your pensions. They’re telling you who you can hire, what the regulations will be. And you want to suck up to your little liberal friends and say, ‘Oh, but we want to legalize pot.’ You know, if you were a little more manly, you would tell the liberals what your position on employment discrimination is. How about that? … It’s always ‘We want to legalize pot.'”
Later in a question and answer session, Coulter elaborated on why exactly she is against drug legalization.
“[I]t is my business when we are living in a welfare state,” she said. “You get rid of the welfare state, then we’ll talk about drug legalization but right now I have to pay for — oh it turns out coming down the pike, your health care. I’ve got to pay your unemployment when you can’t hold a job. I have to pay for your food, for your housing. Yeah, it’s my business.”
As for the push by some libertarians to legalize same-sex marriage, Coulter also chalked that up to libertarians “sucking up to liberals” and said that marriage is attacked as an institution by the left to enhance the role of government in one’s life.
STOSSEL: Why can’t gays get married?
COULTER: Well, they can. They have to marry a member of the opposite sex.
STOSSEL: Why can’t they marry a member of their sex?
COULTER: This is another one where you’re just sucking up to liberals when there are big fights.
STOSSEL: No, we believe the individual should be left alone.
COULTER: But my reason — it has nothing to do with gays or libertarians or anything else. Marriage is the most important institution to civilize young people. I want to make divorce a lot more difficult. Liberals want to destroy — this is an important point libertarians, listen to this. Liberals want to destroy the family so that you will have one loyalty and that is to the government.
(h/t Andrew Kirell, Mediaite)
