
Once more, to preempt certain responses, I stress that I’m a life-long conservative with strong libertarian leanings (especially on economic issues). And I also want to point out, in disagreement with Richard Davis, that I’m aware of no actions by Orrin Hatch or Jason Chaffetz that are even remotely as nakedly partisan and ethically questionable as Senator Reid’s baseless lie about Mitt Romney’s taxes. That was a low point for him, and I can see no justification for it.
That said, I nonetheless believe that Professor Davis makes a valid point here:
The attacks may now begin!
Please, though, don’t waste my time by calling me a liberal or a leftist.
To repeat some points that I’ve made before: I voted for Ronald Reagan in every primary and November election that I could. At age eleven, I even pulled the lever for Barry Goldwater in the 1964 presidential election when my brother took me with him into the polling booth. (My parents voted for Lyndon Johnson.) I’ve subscribed to National Review since I was thirteen, with only a few exceptions when I was living overseas (including part of my mission). While still an undergraduate, I helped to host William F. Buckley Jr. at BYU, won two essay prizes from the Foundation for Economic Education, and was an invited participant in a meeting of the Mont Pelerin Society in St. Andrews, Scotland, where, among others, I met people like the Nobel laureate free market economists Milton Friedman, Friedrich von Hayek, James Buchanan, and George Stigler. I strongly support the nomination of Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court. I joined with a friend to talk with Mike Lee over lunch about the possibility of his running for the United States Senate. I’ve spoken at least three times at the huge annual Freedom Fest libertarian meeting in Las Vegas. And so on and so forth.
So, again, don’t bother trying to portray me as a leftist or a liberal. Thanks in advance.










