Posted on 10/04/2006 8:26:14 AM PDT by tang0r
The libertarian ideology is one of the most misunderstood in American politics. Many citizens don't have any idea what it is. Most of them who do - liberal and conservative - aver that libertarianism is nothing but a worthless form of crypto-anarchy. The author of one recently popular anti-libertarian article, titled with brevity "Why I Am Not a Libertarian," argues that libertarians want to privatize everything, and that since privatization of such things like the Pennekamp Coral Reef in Key Largo would destroy the cute fish and their natural habitat there, libertarianism is not for him. He also alleges that to be libertarian is to support abolishing welfare in favor of ruthless Social Darwinism, and since he doesn't like the idea of handicapped people being tossed in the street, so he rejects that axiom of "libertarianism" as well.
(Excerpt) Read more at prometheusinstitute.net ...
You, and your type are why the libertarians will always be losertarians, relegated as a minor footnote in the history of politics.
You refuse to discuss any possible shortcomings in your movement, but immediately resort to ad hominem attack. Typical of your movement. You are either obtuse, a liar, a whackjob, or a combination of all three. Strap on what ever shoe fits you best.
BTW, you are no Protagoras. You wouldn't make a pimple on the man's ass.
That someone would think it ridiculous is ridiculous.
You've pegged yourselves.
Understand where they are coming from though. It is part of obejctivist philosophy. The non-initiation of force, fraud, theft principle.
It is NEVER morally justifiable to initiate force, fraud or theft against someone. This is axiomatic if you first assume that the only form of ownership a person can have is ownership of self. Since you can't own someone else, initiating force against them violates their equal Right to be an individual being.
This applies to not nuking Canada. Where libertarians and the anti-war at any cost cowards currently infesting the Libertarian party part ways if what to do once you are ATTACKED. "l"ibertarians understand that if you do not respond in kind and remove the threat, that they will continue to be a threat. Anti-war peacnik suicidal types try and worm their way out of going after terrorists under the justification that those terrorists who attacked us on 9-11 are all already dead.
People like me are more reasoned. We realize that if a rabid dog bites you, that you may want to wipe out the entire pack of rabid dogs from whence they came. To effectively fight this war, while minimizing civilian casualties, we want the free market Right of Letters of M&R to hunt them down. This allows us a profit motive as well as a defensive one.
In the interim, we also want our unabridged Second Amendment Rights back so we can protect our families here in the US form random terror attacks like that idiot jihadi that drove an SUV into a crowd of people to see how many he could kill. No amount of TSA/Homeland Security nonsense can stop such terrorist actions.
So, unless your other people care to start doing something REALLY effective about defending ourselves from terrorists, you may not want to point too many fingers at others.
I'm not opposed to war. In fact, I'm rather enthusiatic about it as I've been involved in weapons development my entire career.
Nation Building and "Global Democratic Revolution" have little to do with warfare.
*
Nation Building and "Global Democratic Revolution" have little to do with warfare.Establishing a front-line in that region is what's going on. The rest is rhetoric to mollify the PC majority in congress.
Glad to hear you're in weapons development. Keep up the good work. And while you're at it, try to learn to read between the lines. What do you think would happen if Bush tried to drop the PC rhetoric and tell it like it is, that we're there to draw terrorists into a fight in Iraq so they won't come here to fight us? Can you imagine the howling and wailing and gnashing of teeth that would rise up across our land?
Get with the plan, man. Be glad that your weapons are being used to kill real bad guys.
People like me are more reasoned. We realize that if a rabid dog bites you, that you may want to wipe out the entire pack of rabid dogs from whence they came. To effectively fight this war, while minimizing civilian casualties, we want the free market Right of Letters of M&R to hunt them down. This allows us a profit motive as well as a defensive one.You lost me on the M&R and profit motive stuff but regarding the rabid dogs --- and wiping out whole packs of them with a single MOAB --- I'm with youthere, Dead Corpse. I'm down for the wiping out.
You've pegged yourself as an unreasonable crank.
The majority of Congress is Republican.
Bush tried to drop the PC rhetoric and tell it like it is, that we're there to draw terrorists into a fight in Iraq so they won't come here to fight us?
What sort of magical force field does Iraq generate that prevents jihadis from coming to America?
Many of us share some (small "l") libertarian views. It's just that people often tend to focus on areas of disagreement rather than agreement.
Well, I for one consider myself a "classical liberal," although another term would be a "Jeffersonian liberal," much like Dr. Walter Williams. I just wish I was somewhere near as brilliant as he was. Using "modern" terminology, I guess you could say that I'm a "small 'l'" libertarian, with strong conservative leanings...
Here are some examples:
Fiscal conservative, government has gotten WAY TOO BIG!
Strict constructionist when it comes to the Constitution. The Judiciary and Legislative branch have both far exceeded their constitutional powers.
Abortion should be a states rights issue: Personally, I'm against abortion, except when the mother's life is in danger, although I'm not sure that I'd make it a criminal offense.
I support the "War of Terror" whole heartedly, my only problem with it is that our armed forces are being hamstrung by policy. We need to unleash the military on them and get this over with.
Strong supporter of border security and immgration reform. Step 1, close the borders. Step 2, terminate all social programs for non-citizens. Step 3, Enforce laws penalizing employers who hire illegal aliens. Step 4, Set up a guest worker program.
End the "War on Drugs." I see it incredibly harmful towards liberty and civil rights.
Oh, BTW... The last time I "did" illegal drugs was back around 1982... Well, I may be wrong about that... It may have happened the other day. I had a splitting sinus headache, and I asked a co-worker if she had anything, and she gave me a few cold formula advil capsules. In the state of KS, any OTC drug containing pseudo-ephadrine is now treated as a perscription drug, so we both may now be drug criminals!
Mark
A deliberate and nasty misinterpretation of what I wrote.
Which is why I've always advocated for Libertarians to run as Republicans. If the GOP can make room for sniveling RINOs, then surely they can welcome Libertarians.
I did too. The LP began blaming America, that's when I tore up my membership and told the LP to go take a hike.
I support the President's WOT, and I'm sure there are other Libertarians too.
Which is much better than the RNC. The LP opposes the UN. Name one Republican who has openly advocated for the U.S. to withdraw from the UN. Ron Paul doesn't count.
I'll be the first to admit that the LP itself stinks and should get away from the drugs issue.
Same here. He spends way too much and doesn't give a rat's ass about border security, but he's great on the war and he's nominated two stellar SCOTUS justices, and that counts for a lot.
"Name one Republican who has openly advocated for the U.S. to withdraw from the UN. Ron Paul doesn't count."
I have!
I believe your post illustrates very well why small-l libertarians tend to fit in with conservatives. The big areas of disagreement are often between the Libertarian Party and conservatives. As I said on another post, I like the description "generally conservative with some libertarian leanings" or words to that effect for myself.
BTW, great tagline!
Reb
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.