On Sunday’s “This Week” on ABC, Washington Post columnist George Will reacted to the ongoing feud between New Jersey Republican Gov. Chris Christie and Kentucky Republican Sen. Rand Paul.

Will said it was important to recognize the distinction between anarchism and libertarianism. If Christie is able to make that distinction and still thinks of the libertarian philosophy is dangerous, he himself could be dangerous as well.

“Well, actually there is a rising libertarian stream that Chris Christie has said is ‘a very dangerous thought,’” Will said. “So let’s be clear about what libertarianism is and what it isn’t. It is not anarchism. It has a role in government. What libertarianism says — it comes in many flavors and many degrees of severity, and it basically says before the government abridges the freedom of an individual or the freedom of several individuals contracting together, that government ought to have, A) a compelling reason and B) a constitutional warrant for doing so. Now, if Mr. Christie thinks that’s a dangerous thought, a number of people are going to say that Mr. Christie himself may be dangerous.”

Later in the segment, after a lengthy discussion on the impact of libertarianism in the Republican Party has had on the legislative process, Will said it wasn’t necessarily a bad thing.

“If the indictment of libertarianism is that it prevented the passage of an execrable farm bill, the libertarians can live with that,” he added.

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