Two approaches - sometimes same result

Leftists, conservatives and libertarians more often than not have different goals in their battles. Leftists generally want the State to regulate everything, tax everything and govern most things. Although many Leftists tend to show compassion for, for example, homosexuality and even cannabis-usage, they still have great need to control peoples income and therefore time and efforts. Conservatives have more understanding for peoples need to control their own finances, but sometimes tend to impose moral codes on everyone, but not with every ones consent. Libertarians of course understand that true freedom means both moral and financial freedom, and that people should be able to do what they want as long as they don't enforce violence upon anyone.

But sometimes these groups share goals, although they use different methods of achieving them. Lets take for an example the so-called media-laws which have now been imposed in Iceland, and I have discussed on this website once or twice. Almost all political parties, except those holding power in Althing (Icelands parliament) agree that those laws are bad. They will impose restrictions on media-ownership and work against their own designated goal of increasing the variety in Icelands media-market. But how come all the different groups of libertarians, Leftists and conservatives can share a common goal like this? Well, the reason is this: Different arguments - same goal.

Of course libertarians oppose these laws for idealistic reasons - the market can function just fine without special regulations for this and that, and the consumer is in the end the one who decides who lives and who dies on the market. Conservatives, or the few of them who oppose the law, say that the laws have a too broad scale, and should be reduced to something less and more general (the laws will only affect one media-company in Iceland now - a company which the prime minister of Iceland isn't too happy about). The Leftists? Well, the Leftists only want some other laws than this one, but have not once said exactly what is implied in that.

But all in all a number of very different groups can agree on something, but each on his own terms. Even freedom-fighters like libertarians sometimes have to join authoritarians like Leftists to fight against some government action. When it comes down to it though, the Left will never do things for the right reasons as long as they stay to the left, although they sometimes hit the right note when it comes to picking their battles.