Where are the Libertarians?

With everything that’s going on with the meltdown of Wall Street financial companies, I’ve seen several liberal blogs ask the obvious question: Where are all of the free market fundamentalists now? Shouldn’t all of these firms – and by extension, the U.S. and global economies – be sacrificed on the alter of creative destruction? By my way of thinking, you measure your dogmatic dedication to an idea when the chips are really down.

Among the most dogmatic of the free market fundamentalists are the Libertarians. I see a lot to admire in the Libertarian camp (dedication to individual rights and civil liberties), but they often go over the top with their free market rhetoric.

But there’s not much rhetoric now.

I’ve been checking two primary Libertarian web sites – Cato@Liberty and Reason magazine – and I have yet to see a strong post commenting directly on the federal government’s latest actions to fix the problems on Wall Street. There is this, but it’s pretty weak tea. We do have this post criticizing John McCain for wanting to investigate what happened. Otherwise they’re talking about the threat posed by light rail, happy hours, and – oh, yes – the drop in economic freedom in the U.S. Sticking to their guns, I guess. But where’s the post along the line that it was a great thing that Lehman went down in order to reduce “moral hazard” and bolster free market economics? Maybe I’m missing it.