Just to clarify...

I remain a big, fat, cheerful statist despite "warming up" (or prehaps "wising up" would be a better way of putting things) to left-libertarians.

I find them an interesting, invigorating lot. I give them props for being more consistant than the right libertarians who yammer about big government then willingly bends over for the NSA. I agree with many of their ideas, share much of their sympathies, but the fundamental difference remains -- they want to abolish the government, and I don't.

For instance, I agree very much with Kevin Carson's excellent post on the phony miracle of the so-called "green revolution". However, I have a feeling our ideas of what should be done about it is very different. I happen to think third-world governments are in a position to do enormous good with measures like land reform, educating small farmers on high-value crops and encouraging individual producers to come together to form co-ops that can bring their crops to market on more favorable terms.