Apologies to all, this edition is much delayed. Finally though, here is the the "Best of the Best of 2007" as selected by Carnival of the Liberals own participants and myself. All the submissions for this edition can be found on the Carnival of the Liberals home page.

First up I have to admit being a little puzzled when I received a couple of submissions from Libertarians. While Libertarians aren't prohibited from participating in CotL, as long as their posts are generally supportive of liberalism, these submissions were in fact the same old tired defenses of Libertarian thinking that can be found in Libertarian propaganda everywhere. I'm none too happy spreading Libertarian ideas which I generally find to be foolish and so one won't find such here but happily, Richard from Philosophy, etc. also sent in his critique of one of those Libertarian workhorses, the idea that the minimum wage is a form of coercion. Criticisms of Libertarian ideas I am quite willing to propagate.

Actually, this reminds me that I've been seeing a seeming groundswell of support for Libertarianism, at least on the blogosphere. It's obvious that Ron Paul attracts a good many people from both the left and the right. While it would be easy to conclude that all of Paul's supporters on the left are just clueless as to his true agenda (which has nothing to do with liberalism or liberty or even reality gaging by the videos popping up of Paul denying evolution) I think it also has to do in large part with how angry many of us were and are with the Democrats this year. Daveawayfromhome succintly sums up the dissatisfaction that many of us feel with his post aptly titled "Betrayed". And as for those on the right who support Paul I think it's important to look at the dissatisfaction conservatives have with their own party as Phil In NY has done over at E-News Daily. Perhaps the Republican Party isn't conservative enough for many conservatives? And if those conservatives support Ron Paul, then maybe those on the left who also support Paul might want to take another look at their candidate?

Big Ideas reminds us that it's necessary to stand up for freedom of speech, even when we find what's being spoken to be loathsome. That's certainly something I agree with and as much as I despise holocaust deniers I would never support making holocaust denial speech a crime as Austria did a few years back. That's a truly dangerous road and one that conservatives have no problem traveling. Joseph at Engage gives us one example when he notes that Martin Luther King was called a terrorist.

But damn, I can't help but admit it's tempting. There's actually a lot of speech I'd love to see criminalized. Climate change denialism and Intelligent Design/Creationism among them. However, as long as we have people like Nature Mom and Gred Laden around I think that ultimately most people will recognize both as simply politically and religiously motivated idiocy.

Looking back over the submissions for this edition, it's easy to see that speech and religion were two of the big topics on everybody's minds this year. For instance, Tangled Up In Blue Guy takes a look at The Noble Lie and finds a possible reason why conservatives embrace the war on evolution. Could it be they really don't believe the idiotic claptrap the Discovery Institute puts out? And Greta Christina takes a look at the two faces of atheist activism. For anyone who isn't up on the feud, many atheists find the speech of the so-called New Atheists shrill and counterproductive. Greta suggests that we need to stop squabbling amonst ourselves and realize that there's a need for both the laid-back, non-confrontational criticism of religion and the combative, in-your-face tactics people like PZ or Richard Dawkins prefer. It's interesting that Greta finds support for her argument in historic GLBT activism as it's often suggested that atheists need to adopt the tactics of the GLBT movement by reclaiming the term 'atheist'. It seems there's more we can learn than just simple word-play.

Last but not least, Karen at The Greenbelt examines a particularly virulent form of speech -- flag waving. This is easily my pick for the best of the best of 2007 for Karen's simple, clear and positive definition of patriotism:

That's what patriotism is. Not falling down and worshiping the red, white, and blue idol, but actively working to make the country worth our love.

Who could argue with that?

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