Libertarians have often struggled to fit on the right with complete comfort. And the rest of the Right has not always welcomed them. William F. Buckley certainly had libertarian sympathies and inclinations: In one 1969 essay, he extolled the “wholesome major contentions of libertarian theory.”
But, in that same essay, he criticized both Milton and David Friedman for articulating libertarian theory to such lengths that he believed they were engaging in “intellectual sport,” and one ought “not to take that kind of thing seriously.” I have likewise made some of my own disagreements with libertarians clear.
For the libertarian magazine Reason, however, Joe Lancaster has made an excellent argument for both the personal and the political benefits of exercise. “Perhaps one solution to both toxic levels of politicking and concerns about the encroaching cost of health care is to go out and get some fresh air,” Lancaster writes.
A true health-care fix is unlikely, whoever wins the election, even small amounts of exercise have proven health benefits, and getting outside is a way to take your mind off political stress (or at least to process it). All of this adds up to a great case to “take some time away from partisan squabbling and get some fresh air in your lungs.” A wholesome libertarianism indeed.