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This is the inevitable result of forty years of social libertarianism and market capitalism. The market will ruthlessly exploit the dark side of human nature to market products. It does so efficiently and with ever increasing effectiveness. Each step downward numbs us to the next one.

I used to be a libertarian. But I concluded some time ago that no society can combine social libertarianism and market capitalism successfully for long. Inevitably, the degradation of the human spirit that accompanies this combination will result in the return of the jackboot.

Nothing I have seen in the past forty years gives me any comfort that I am wrong.

Yeah, it's gotta be those dammed libertarians!

This is the inevitable result of forty years of social libertarianism and market capitalism. The market will ruthlessly exploit the dark side of human nature to market products. It does so efficiently and with ever increasing effectiveness. Each step downward numbs us to the next one.

I used to be a libertarian. But I concluded some time ago that no society can combine social libertarianism and market capitalism successfully for long. Inevitably, the degradation of the human spirit that accompanies this combination will result in the return of the jackboot.

Nothing I have seen in the past forty years gives me any comfort that I am wrong.

I think much the same thing. I used to be somewhat libertarian for a while and something snapped me back to my current views. I think it was the combination of this stuff, 9-11, getting my left hand cut open, infected and operated on, homosexual marriage in Canada and the fight hereover it among other things that has gotten me closer to God and Jesus. I used to be a South Park junky but not as much now. I agree they are still worth a giggle or two but not much beyond that. I do admit to being very conservative socially, militarily and morally but an economic centrist, because the dark side of human nature is there to be exploited, I think that is the main reason why I tend to distrust free market capitalism because of that appeal to the lowest common denominator.

The dark side has always been with us but as a society, the people tended to regulated themselves well enough to keep it at the sidelines. It wasn't perfect, but good enough 99% of the time. Then the 1960's happened and throughout the last four decades, we see what we are seeing now.

I was watching "Star Wars - Attack of the Clones" where young Anakin Skywalker (the future Darth Vader) told Padme, "the Republic is broken," and when I take a look around, there are times I feel thesame way about our society. Somebody will come along and try to fix it or claim to, it depends on the true motives of this hypothetical Anakin that is down the road. Nature abhores a vacuum and although we need to take the bull by the horns in each of our lives, there is a lack of leadership on our moral problems right now although sooner or later, there will be some Anakin who will step in. I admit, there is an open question in my mind, should I oppose this Anakin/Darth Vader..... or should I support him?

I don't know at times, but with the current social libertarianism and market capitalism that goes for the lowest common denominator, a society cannot survive and will fall at some point.

So are you not for capitalism also?