Ah… but still small “l” libertarian not big L libertarian? But his various positions make more sense from that perspective, yeah?
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Frequently but not on all issues, I guess? As governor he often supported policies that most libertarian-minded people seem to abhor, like increased investment in public transit systems. He also wanted to increase spending on public schools, but hated the Teachers’ Unions. I don’t think he fits especially neatly in any of the traditional political categories. Sometimes that’s great (yay for being vocally anti-torture!) and sometimes it’s just fucking weird (9/11 Trutherism).
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The serious background to the shenanigans inside the Legislative Yuan:
Thousands of Taiwanese citizens gathered outside the legislative yuan to protest against attempts by the opposition parties to push through a bill without review, which would give parliamentarians extraordinary powers to question anyone, including the president, under threat of fines and jail time. On Friday one MP was hospitalised after the parties came to blows over the debate.
[…]
Experts have called the bill potentially unconstitutional, and a threat to national security as it appeared to compel answers regardless of whether the information was protected or sensitive, and could punish legislators for vaguely defined acts of “contempt of congress”.
Lai won January’s election in a three-way race, but his party – the ruling Democratic Progressive party lost control of the legislature. Instead the two major opposition parties, the Kuomintang (KMT) and newcomers, the Taiwan People’s party (TPP), hold the majority and have teamed up to push through the bill, which also includes $61bn in infrastructure spending which would likely cripple Taiwan’s budget, including for defence.
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