On this week’s Stossel, Glenn Beck apologized for being wrong in the past and whined about how libertarians aren’t enthusiastically embracing him and his new found wisdom.  In reality, it sounds more like he is disenchanted with republicans than undergoing some intellectual awakening.  The idea that he can simply change his mind on a few issues and suddenly expect to be welcomed as a new voice for libertarianism highlights the one thing that many libertarians find so repugnant about Beck.  Beck is all about Beck.

Listening closely to what he says on Stossel tells me that Beck has a long way to go in his metamorphosis.   The establishment parties select their positions on various topics based on politics rather than philosophy, so their positions are inconsistent and routinely conflict with each other.  Beck is product of that environment, so he picks and chooses what his position is on issues, and sometimes he happens to pick the same position as libertarians.  So, he now thinks he must be a libertarian.  Maybe he will someday be a libertarian, but he ain’t there yet.  And instead of complaining about how he’s not being welcomed with open arms, maybe he ought to learn a little humility.  While it is true that conservatives sometimes sound like libertarians, conservatives have established a history of not practicing what they preach.