New campaign strategy for Libertarians

Right Wing News (Humor/Politics site) ^ | 2/10/2004 | Mac Johnson

[mackster]

The Two And A Half Party System: A Call To Libertarians by Mac Johnson

The Libertarian party is a party of principle. This fact is an enormous comfort to the party each election year when its candidates lose every major race. Being free from the burden of mattering, we can all be proud of the purity of our untested principles. OK, it is a little harsh to say that the Party does not matter. After all, occasionally one of its candidates may, in a tight race, siphon off just enough votes from the least abominable candidate to push the more abominable one over the top and on to Washington! Husah!

At some point though, even the purist must wonder just what it might be like to actually put a Libertarian into office and see our principles put into action and law. If you are among the select group for whom principle alone is wearing thin, then please take a moment to indulge me in an immodest proposal to overhaul the movement's playbook just a little.

[sergeantdave]

Apples and oranges.

In libertopia residents would be expected to contract for fire protection with private companies. Those who didn't pay would receive no service.

A volunteer department is contracted through the municipality via ordinances to provide service to all residents in that locale.

[Zavien Doombringer]

I don't suspect this trollbate...

Honest opinions. The libertarian view isn't off base.

[Arrowhead1952]

Please explain how this is a troll? In what way?

One of those post and run threads. Have you seen one single reply from mackster? Some of the content of the article is worthwhile, but not a single defense or rebuttal for the post.

[No Blue States]

"In libertopia residents would be expected to contract..."

ROFL at Libertopia! Excellent.

[Not A Snowbird]

Indulge me in an immodest proposal

WHOA! I just caught this grammatical faux pas. Sorry, but the only immodest proposals I indulge in involve my husband.

[Edmund Burke]

I think that I am probably going to vote for the Libertarian for President this year instead of the Republican candidate. I don't like the libertarian stands on a lot of social issues (I am conservative) but, the Republicans don't seem serious about reducing the size and scope of government (whether it be federal, state, or local). They (the Republicans) are only interested in getting re-elected, not in accomplishing anything. Even the Reagan administration did little or nothing to streamline government programs. In my job I have to work with a lot of HUD programs, etc. Let me tell you, it only gets worse, not better. I think it is time to send the professional politicians a message. Cut spending and clean up the federal government or get the hell out.

[sergeantdave]

Rather than quitting the party, consider infiltrating it. Volunteer for the local planning or zoning commission. Run for the local highway department position.

Then once you get in, implement your smaller government programs. Get some bureaucrats fired. Cut spending. Leak information to the citizens on how the local pols are wasting money. And if you want to do it while calling yourself a libertarian, I have no problem with that.

[Protagoras]

In libertopia residents would be expected to contract for fire protection with private companies. Those who didn't pay would receive no service.

There is no such place as "libertopia" except in your imagination so it's only in your imagination what would be expected.

[Protagoras]

So the content isn't your problem, only that the poster does not engage. Fair enough.

[Protagoras]

ROFL at Libertopia! Excellent.

You don't get out much huh?

[<1/1,000,000th%]

"The convention is expected to be the largest in party history, drawing upwards of 45 Libertarians to the second-floor apartment in the Mulholland Terrace complex. In preparation for the event, 15 extra folding chairs have been ordered by party leaders, as well as 12 two-liter bottles of Pepsi, Sprite, and Diet Mountain Dew."

Diet Mountain Dew??? Ewwwwww!!!

[zeugma]

I too would be interested in discovering which party I should support that would bring rights back to the people and reduce government interference in people's lives. Smaller government would be great. It's not going to come from the demopublicans though.

Vote Cthulhu! Because you're tired of voting for the lesser of evils.

http://www.simonjester.org/poster.html

[Zippo44]

Sandy dear, you should pause before leaping into the fray with such delight. The phrase you decry as "ungrammatical" is indeed an allusion to Dean Swift's well known seventeenth century essay "A Modest Proposal". In which he proposed that the overpopulation of Ireland be resolved through anthropophagy, more specifically, through eating the children of Ireland. This satirical essay is readily available online. Please do yourself a favor and take time to add it to your personal lexicon.

[sergeantdave]

Let's hear your "hard facts" on how fire protection would be accomplished in a libertarian community.

[Not A Snowbird]

You lost me. I'm not sure what you're trying to say.

"Immodest" means "not modest", according to Merriam-Webster, which didn't fit what the individual was trying to say. I think I prefer 21st century dictionaries to 17th century essays.

[No Blue States]

Yes, plenty.

That why i can spot a funny and true phrase a mile off.

In fact its the perfect term for the non existent libertarian fantasy.

[Protagoras]

Let's hear your "hard facts" on how fire protection would be accomplished in a libertarian community.

Hard facts? We have no libertarian society so there are no hard facts. You seem to have trouble with that concept. But some things even in an authoritarian society are still performed without the use of force, so,,,

If you want to know how fires have been put out without the threat of violence by people working together all you have to do is look at history. And since volunteer fire departments and private firms provide these services in the REAL world all the time, the evidence is easy to find.

Many people, apparently you are one of them, don't seem to be able to see civil society all around them all the time. When you are hooked on coercion as the answer to all problems everything begins to look like it must work that way. I feel sorry for people like that.

[No Blue States]

Indeed there IS a phrase "libertopia" now, coined on FR.

And I will use it every chance i get. Its perfect.

[Protagoras]

In fact its the perfect term for the non existent libertarian fantasy.

I don't know any libertarians who engage in fantasy about such matters. And I know thousands. But hey, a guy like you who gets out plenty might meet all manner of goofy people.

I've even met goofy people on this board who think authoritarian government has worked, so that proves there are all kinds of goofs running around.

Truth is, that there even exists a fantasy about a libertarian society is your fantasy. One of the first things I read about libertarian philosophy many many years ago was the the statement, Since "utopia" is not an option,,,,,

[No Blue States]

Let me guess, you feel sorry for me also?

Libertopia. i b e r t o p i a