IMHO, libertarians are the biggest reason our country is in the mess it is. They have ruined the GOP with their idiotic, childish economic theories. Think of a spoiled child that cries “me” all the time, and you have a libertarian. At heart,they are anarchists, but they will not admit it. Limited gov’t to them is “no” gov’t except what may directly benefit them. Not a happy thing for an entire country.
Much of their nonsense was brought on by Ayn Rand, who supposedly was not a libertarian. Their “free market” ideas have led to foolish deregulation of the financial markets with the disasterous results you see now.Greenspan, a disciple of Ayn Rand, may have had an epiphany or not when he said he had wrongly relied on enlightened self interest of banks.
The libertarians are unable to get much traction in elections so they leeched onto the Republicans and turned them into a party of economic morons and government nihilists. Think Phil Gramm deregulating derivatives. I have coined a phrase for them, LICE, (Libertarians Infiltrating Conservative Entities).
Whenever you hear the “initiation of force” bs, that is libertarians. Imagine conservatives disagreeing with a military draft, and then compare that to the libertarian reaction. That is the difference. Conservatives believe in responsibilities. Libertarians really don’t. Libertarians think the 1800s were the Golden Ages in America, and things like minimum wages, wage and hour laws, child labor laws, worker’s comp, social security, FDA, and medicare are horrible intrusions of gov’t power.
While they may pose as rugged individualists, they are really insecure little children who belong back in Europe when they had lords and ladies to run things. Mention taxing the rich and they wet their short pants out of fear that there will be no rich person to give them a job or take care of them.
Thankfully, America was not founded by Libertarians. If it had, no settlers would have headed West, because there were no rich folks waiting on the prairies and coasts to take care of them. Real American don’t need no rich person to take care of them, and give them jobs, and run things for them. They do it themselves and hopefully get wealthier in the process.
This guy nails it on the head:
http://www.zompist.com/libertos.html
The main reason why most people call themselves libertarians, is because it starts off with “liber” and we think “liberty”. At least that’s my opinion.
parsy, who got carried away again
I completely agree that with sentiment. Who is with me??
geeze Parsy, that was kinda crazy. LOL
Was your post #28 intended as sarcasm? It sounded like something a Democrat would've written. I'm not a capital-L "Libertarian", but let's look at what you wrote:
Their “free market” ideas have led to foolish deregulation of the financial markets with the disasterous results you see now. Greenspan, a disciple of Ayn Rand, may have had an epiphany or not when he said he had wrongly relied on enlightened self interest of banks.
Financial markets are regulated heavily. And Greenspan USED TO BE a disciple of Ayn Rand, but he abandoned those principles. By lowering the interest rates through the Fed, he wasn't relying on the "self-interest of banks." The Fed believed they could manipulate the economy, but all they succeeded in doing was to create a housing bubble.
Conservatives believe in responsibilities. Libertarians really don’t.
Both believe in responsibilities.
While they may pose as rugged individualists, they are really insecure little children who belong back in Europe when they had lords and ladies to run things. Mention taxing the rich and they wet their short pants out of fear that there will be no rich person to give them a job or take care of them.
I don't understand. You're not in favor of higher taxes, are you?
Thankfully, America was not founded by Libertarians.
Those revolutionists in the early days were probably much closer to Libertarian than anything else.
If it had, no settlers would have headed West, because there were no rich folks waiting on the prairies and coasts to take care of them. Real American don’t need no rich person to take care of them, and give them jobs, and run things for them.
I spent a lot of time talking with Libertarians. Believe me, they're not asking for anyone to take care of them.
Its interesting that you spent lots of paragraphs bashing libertarians, but not really very much time at all saying exactly what was wrong with each of those libertarian points, except to say they are childish and stupid. The truth is the founders were very much libertarian in their approach. It would be interesting to hear you pose your solutions to all of the areas where you bashed Libertarians, the free market, and Ayn Rand.
The truth is a lot libertarian ideas do require a lot of individual responsibility and individual personal growth, quite the opposite of what you’ve asserted. I’d welcome a robust debate and not just saying basically, “libertarians s**k.”
Are you sure your not a communist? You seem to favor the needs of the community over the needs of the individual.
(So parsifal - is passed out on the couch and you're doing his FReep thing? - just ax'n)
“I believe the very heart and soul of conservatism is libertarianism. ... The basis of conservatism is a desire for less government interference or less centralized authority or more individual freedom, and this is a pretty general description also of what libertarianism is.”
-Ronald Reagan, 1975