I think that left/right convergence around libertarianism is inevitable. I posted something on this a week or two ago in relation to "individualist anarchism" and I have raised dangers relating to the term "libertarianism" on other lists too. The fact is that if your point of departure is anti-statism, and not class, capital, history, etc., you are going to find yourself at some stage or another in strange company. This is one of the reasons why I am not an anarchist myself, although I have strong sympathies for communist anarchism. I personally have known many people whose notion of anti-statism (and even "anti-capitalism") draws from both the right and left notions, people whose idea of liberation involves withdrawing into the countryside armed with crossbows or AK47s or whatever and forming communities of like-minded people, "away from all the crap of society", hunting and growing vegetables, etc. There is nothing left or right about this, it is simply an appealing fantas! y ! that many people have and some will act on it.
In another message to this list I also spoke earlier about the importance of mourning, as a coming to terms with history and its disappointments, as opposed to those who offer the "new dawn". The new dawn types may include nazis, Christian uptopians, hippies, and yes also not so well-informed anarchists as well. If I had to find a term that captures this whimsical tradition of thought, which is as old as capitalism itself, I would call it romantic anti-capitalism. The fact is that "libertarianism" serves to rally people from extreme left and right backgrounds, and will continue to do so, and for that reason I have always regarded this term with grave reservation. None of this though is meant to defend the old metaphor of left and right, which can be just as confusing in its usage. But there is no substitute for knowledge and a sense of history - a general anti-this and anti-that mentality does not a revolution make in my view. Tahir