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What Libertarianism Gets Wrong
https://www.discoursemagazine.com/ ^ | MAY 22, 2024 | JON GABRIEL

Posted on 05/25/2024 2:09:16 PM PDT by Jonty30

Remember the “New Atheists”? They were a big deal 15 or so years ago, bashing irrationality and superstition in bestselling books like “The God Delusion,” “The End of Faith” and “God Is Not Great.” Some of them ultimately ended up as believers, others turned to ayahuasca, and Richard Dawkins recently admitted to being a “cultural Christian.” He still doesn't believe in the big J.C., but acknowledges his worldview was shaped in a Christian context.

In a similar way, I've always been a cultural libertarian. A son of the Mountain West, my traditional conservatism is heavily dosed with a “leave me the hell alone” contempt for Washington, Wall Street and anyone else who dares to tell me what to do. It’s more instinct than ideology. When policy wonks argue how government can best solve a problem, I’m the guy in back muttering, “Why should government be involved at all?”

That said, I’ve never described myself as a full-blown libertarian—never joined the party, haven’t even read “Atlas Shrugged.” Despite admiring the libertarian movement, I’ve always sensed a hollowness at its core that didn’t jibe with human nature.

(Excerpt) Read more at discoursemagazine.com ...


TOPICS: Books/Literature; Education; Religion; Society
KEYWORDS: libertarianparty; naturallawparty; rfkjr; robertkennedyjr
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To: who_would_fardels_bear

“The article is basically pointless.”

As are most of the comments.


41 posted on 05/25/2024 4:30:18 PM PDT by threefinger
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To: Reverend Wright

Like they used to say about Gernany, either you are on top of them or they are on top of you.


42 posted on 05/25/2024 4:31:56 PM PDT by Bonemaker (invictus maneo)
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To: A strike

The people in the Whiskey Rebellion would beg to differ.


43 posted on 05/25/2024 4:34:15 PM PDT by Reverend Wright ( Everything touched by progressives, dies !)
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To: higgmeister

They invariably nominate some hapless, nobody putz.


44 posted on 05/25/2024 4:37:08 PM PDT by Bonemaker (invictus maneo)
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To: Jonty30
with government only doing what the individual cannot readily do on his own

Can "the individual" suppress communist revolution, stop mobs from burning down cities, punish rapists and murderers, end usury, and protect the water and the air from spread of harmful substances?

I joined the LP in 1972. I voted for Ed Clark in 1980. I paid dues until 1988.

A perfect society for white men with IQs of >115.

The whole thing is a stupid fantasy.

45 posted on 05/25/2024 4:38:27 PM PDT by Jim Noble (Assez de mensonges et de phrases)
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To: Jonty30

If you want a good laugh, ask a libertarian how private fire and police departments work.


46 posted on 05/25/2024 4:51:09 PM PDT by sergeantdave (AI training involves stealing content from creators and not paying them a penny)
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To: Jonty30
I am actually angry at this idiot that wrote this article for attempting to equate Ayn Rand with Karl Marx.   Ayn Rand suffered under the Russian Revolution and therefore was vehemently against collectivism of any kind.   "The Virtue of Selfishness" as the book was called was not advocating greed, but "enlightened self interest" meaning that every person should be properly remunerated for the work he does.

This guy needs to read all four fiction works:

We the Living. 1936 & 1959.
Anthem. 1938 & 1946.
The Fountainhead. 1943.
Atlas Shrugged. 1957.
I have and I'm better for it.   This is how against Marxism and all of the other collectivist subsets.
I swear by my life and my love of it that I will never live for the sake of another man, nor ask another man to live for mine.

47 posted on 05/25/2024 4:58:34 PM PDT by higgmeister (In the Shadow of The Big Chicken! )
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To: Jonty30
So I looked up this author and it seems he is a deep stater!

About

Writer, columnist, editor, and content creator covering diverse subjects including policy, politics, and pop culture. Published in the Wall Street Journal, USA Today, the New York Post, the Arizona Republic, CNN, National Review, and other publications. Also a marketing communications expert with a strong background in branding, writing, and graphic design. Dedicated to lifetime learning, attention to detail, and a sweeping knowledge of myriad fields, products, and markets. [master of none}

Education

Arizona State University
B.A., Journalism

Activities and societies: Served as managing editor, copy editor, writer, photographer and artist for various college, professional and non-profit publications.

3.80 GPA, summa cum laude; Dean's List every semester. Emphases in news editorial, Spanish, history.

U.S. Naval Nuclear Power School
Certification, Reactor Operations

Intensive, two-year nuclear power program including academic and experiential training. Subjects included nuclear physics, advanced mathematics, material science, chemistry, electrical engineering, thermodynamics and quantum physics. Graduated in top quintile of class.


48 posted on 05/25/2024 4:59:47 PM PDT by higgmeister (In the Shadow of The Big Chicken! )
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To: Reverend Wright

They were not ruled.
They were evaluated and found not to be in accordance with We the People.


49 posted on 05/25/2024 5:05:55 PM PDT by A strike (There is no tyranny that cannot be justified by 'climate change')
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To: ansel12
The generations of voters who founded America would be lynching libertarians.

I specifically stated the difference between the Libertarian Party and the libertarian.

From Wikipedia:

The term libertarianism refers to a political philosophy maintaining that all persons are the absolute owners of their own lives, and should be free to do whatever they wish with their persons or property, provided they allow others the same liberty and avoid harming others by abusing their liberty.

Our Founding Fathers would not lynch small "l" libertarians.
50 posted on 05/25/2024 5:07:18 PM PDT by higgmeister (In the Shadow of The Big Chicken! )
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To: Bonemaker

Yep.


51 posted on 05/25/2024 5:08:58 PM PDT by higgmeister (In the Shadow of The Big Chicken! )
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To: higgmeister

Yes they would, your social liberalism would have them burning your houses and running you out of town, unless they caught you doing it, then they would arrest and imprison you.

Agreeing with WASP Christian America on their form of limited government would have merely had them looking at you and wondering why you brought it up since you were just agreeing with them.


52 posted on 05/25/2024 5:24:57 PM PDT by ansel12 ((NATO warrior under Reagan, and RA under Nixon, bemoaning the pro-Russians from Vietnam to Ukraine.))
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To: Jim Noble

1974 was when I first ran into them, it took me all of about 20 or 30 minutes to get into their flaws, but that first 10 or 15 minutes of listening to them talking sounded good.

A libertarian can adapt his speaking to the listener, whether he is a radical liberal or hard right, and let him hear the parts he would like, and they do, even here at FR.


53 posted on 05/25/2024 5:31:00 PM PDT by ansel12 ((NATO warrior under Reagan, and RA under Nixon, bemoaning the pro-Russians from Vietnam to Ukraine.))
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To: higgmeister

Ayn Rand hated libertarians. In practice she was quite authoritarian in her personal relationships.


54 posted on 05/25/2024 5:50:24 PM PDT by who_would_fardels_bear (Kafka was an optimist.)
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To: higgmeister

What you quoted is basically the NAP which is a nice sounding but unenforceable dictum. If some libertarians are for abortion and others aren’t, then what does the NAP really accomplish?


55 posted on 05/25/2024 5:54:27 PM PDT by who_would_fardels_bear (Kafka was an optimist.)
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To: Jonty30

Mankind used to be busy in the individual need to survive, to eat and become comfortable.

After everything achieved by hard work, it is the policies of the lazy that resulted in all the unimaginable BS today.

Underfed, uncomfortable people do actually channel their time and effort to support themselves. However, when people start living in a world with little occupation in obtaining food themselves, they become more disconnected from reality. Today those people reject right, wrong, or fairness in their need for greed.


56 posted on 05/25/2024 6:32:46 PM PDT by Jumper
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To: sergeantdave

As I said, there are limits. Liberals think having police and sewers means we should go fully socialist. When you argue against them, they tell you that if a society cannot be 100% socialist, then it will be like Somalia.


57 posted on 05/25/2024 6:34:15 PM PDT by Jonty30 (He hunted a mammoth for me, just because I said I was hungry. He is such a good friend. )
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To: Jumper

In eternity, I don’t know what to expect. However, one thing I do know is that Satan doesn’t do original he copies and twists the original. Socialism is a copy of how God does things, that much I am certain but it is a twisted copy of the original Heavenly plan.


58 posted on 05/25/2024 7:21:37 PM PDT by Jonty30 (He hunted a mammoth for me, just because I said I was hungry. He is such a good friend. )
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To: who_would_fardels_bear
What you quoted is basically the NAP which is a nice sounding but unenforceable dictum. If some libertarians are for abortion and others aren’t, then what does the NAP really accomplish?

What is the NAP?   What does that mean?

Also a small "l" libertarian doesn't have anybody telling him how or what to think about anything.

59 posted on 05/25/2024 10:48:24 PM PDT by higgmeister (In the Shadow of The Big Chicken! )
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To: ansel12
What social liberalism are you talking about?   A small "l" libertarian woes not have a platform to adhere to.

For example I consider myself a small "l" libertarian and am against abortion, for a controlled border allowing no illegals cross, and above that I would probably agree with you about everything but your stance on Ukraine.

60 posted on 05/25/2024 11:07:51 PM PDT by higgmeister (In the Shadow of The Big Chicken! )
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