Delusions

Virginia Postrel writes that Libertarian hawks who have become anti-Bush are deluding themselves that Kerry will be more fiscally restrained. Actually, I have been a bit surprised by the Libertarian attitude toward Bush. Granted, he has not been much of a fiscal conservative, but it would seem to me (and I have been a Libertarian for many years--in fact, I have voted Libertarian in almost every election except the presidential election of 2000) that the international situation and Islamofascism is a far more pressing issue. And if those same Libertarian hawks imagine that Kerry will protect America's values, defend and promote Freedom and oppose the jihadists, they are seriously delusional.

Which leads me to a mental status examination of the Democratic Party. In psychiatry, the mental status examination is the most important part of the evaluation of a client/patient. It provides information on higher cognitive functioning; intellectual functioning; abstract functions and thought processes; appearance, behavior and speech. It is essential to perform the mental status examination (MSE) to make an accurate diagnosis. Tomorrow I will perform an MSE on the Democrats and then compare it to one on the Republicans. Libertarians would likely refuse to participate in such a thing, or go all Szaz-like and refuse to admit that mental illness exists--so I won't bother to evaluate them. See you then!