The notion that Hunter S. Thompson wasn't -- ever -- a creature of the statist Left is not new, but James G. Poulos makes the case well for The American Spectator.
Money shot:
The Left joined him -- not the other way around. Whereas the caricature in 2005 is of a GOP that believes in God and a Democratic Party that worships humanism, Thompson knew as early as 1958 that he had "no god," and found it "impossible to believe in man." Fear and loathing was an equal-opportunity exercise. In Vegas, the dividing line between Nixon and Humphrey voters was a distinction without a difference. Given the choice between Rotarian Republicans and cop/thug Democrats, Thompson chose ether.
Hat tip to David Gonzalez.
Reminds me of something Thompson once wrote in a letter to his Marxist friend Paul Semonin (available, if you want to read it in its entirety, in The Proud Highway):
"My position is and always has been that I distrust power and authority, together with all those who come to it by conventional means -- whether it is guns, votes, or outright bribery. There are two main evils in the world today: one is Poverty, the other is Governments. And frankly I see no hope of getting rid of either. So it will have to be a matter of degrees, and that's where we quarrel ..."
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