Von Hoffman Says Libertarians Should Seek Unhappy Liberals

A nationally syndicated columnist and television commentator told a law school audience Wednesday night that the new Libertarian Party will find its best "recruiting ground" among the "disillusioned" liberals of the sixties.

Speaking to members of Harvard's Center for the Study of Social Systems, Nicholas Von Hoffman said. "The progressive erosion in the sense of the state and the growing belief in the importance of personal liberties had made a lot of small and middle income liberals sympathetic to your cause."

Von Hoffman said that because the Labertarrans advocate the same "universally accepted anti-government "position" as the liberals the new party would probably face the same problems of voter "indifference" that plagued the old one

When was the last time you heard anyone saying they were for big government?" Von Hoffman asked his audience. "It's what I call an applehood and other pie issue. While everybody agrees, no one feels strongly enough to do anything about it."

"Liberty in the sense we're talking about is not really a hot commodity," he continued. "Our whole political history is full of delicious ironies where someone is making a speech about liberty while he's banning the kid from school."

Von Hoffman said that while liberals tried to fight indifference by making compromises that "swallowed them, up" and alliances that "backfired," the Libertarians should try to stir people to action.