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Why you might be already be a Libertarian
The Prometheus Institute ^ | 10/4/2006 | Editorial

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 ...


TOPICS: Miscellaneous; Philosophy
KEYWORDS: libertarian; puffpuffgive; thechronic
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To: tang0r
Why you might be already be a Libertarian

7. If you consider grammar rules a gross infringement of your liberty.

13. If you can't even cut-n-paste a headline...

41 posted on 10/04/2006 9:15:28 AM PDT by Diddle E. Squat
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To: therut
The peoblem with the idea of legalizing drugs is one of timing to me. I will support legalization of all drugs when the welfare state is destroyed. Not one second sooner. The libertarians make a big mistake in braying about legalizing drugs when everyone know it would be a diaster until they do not have to pay to support the druggies and their dependents.

The assumption that libertarians ALL want ALL drugs legalized is an assumption that is often made to bash libertarians. By the way, has keeping drugs illegal reduced the welfare roles and illegitimate births? It seems to me that plenty of children have been procreated under the influence of alcohol; what's the solution for that drug?

42 posted on 10/04/2006 9:15:54 AM PDT by rhombus
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To: Jaysun
But social policy and ideas matter.

Government should have the power to craft social policy?

43 posted on 10/04/2006 9:17:07 AM PDT by Hemingway's Ghost (Spirit of '75)
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To: RebelBanker

Also, to hammer cops every chance they get. All cops are jack booted thugs, etc.


44 posted on 10/04/2006 9:17:07 AM PDT by Scotsman will be Free
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To: Scotsman will be Free

Forgot about that one. Thanks!


45 posted on 10/04/2006 9:17:42 AM PDT by RebelBanker (We must not and cannot let the perfect be the enemy of the good.)
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To: ClearCase_guy
As far as I can see, Libertarians support:

Legalized drugs

Better than the current FU'd situation now

Open borders

Borders are already open. Libertarians would eliminate the welfare state and the handouts, illegals would have no incentives to come here

No action against terrorists in other countries

We'd respond if attacked. We just wouldn't be doing all that "spreading democracy" crap in the ME.

46 posted on 10/04/2006 9:17:52 AM PDT by Extremely Extreme Extremist
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To: samtheman
"I don't trust Libertarians on the subject of war. I don't believe they get it when it comes to fighting wars."

I don't trust them on much of anything. I think most of them would sell the rest of their platform for legal drugs.
47 posted on 10/04/2006 9:17:56 AM PDT by Beagle8U (I agree with the Demonrats.....All Queers must be removed from Congress! ( Its for the children))
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To: Dracian
The problem isn't unwillingness. The problem is that such a claim is so wide open you can drive a giant planet through it. It's the same muckity muck that every crying liberal proclaims. It just turns into a battle of who will rule over who.

Amen, and it has surprised to find that there are "conservatives" who believe the government would be an able steward of this nation's "emotional" or "spiritual" health.

48 posted on 10/04/2006 9:18:24 AM PDT by Trailerpark Badass
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To: tang0r
one of the most misunderstood in American politics

What would be the best-understood party in America? The YEC Party?

49 posted on 10/04/2006 9:19:22 AM PDT by RightWhale (Repeal the law of the excluded middle)
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To: Beagle8U
I think most of them would sell the rest of their platform for legal drugs.

Then you really haven't thought about it that much . . .

50 posted on 10/04/2006 9:19:44 AM PDT by Hemingway's Ghost (Spirit of '75)
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To: Beagle8U
I think most of them would sell the rest of their platform for legal drugs.

The national LP is the one that's FU'd. I don't support the LP itself. Individual Libertarian candidates are generally more conservative with an emphasis on meat-and-potato issues such as taxes and getting the gov't out of education. At least Libertarians want the US out of the UN, something that all Republicans don't want.

51 posted on 10/04/2006 9:22:15 AM PDT by Extremely Extreme Extremist
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To: samtheman
I don't trust Libertarians on the subject of war. I don't believe they get it when it comes to fighting wars.

Just curious, do you believe the current Neo-Wilsonian nation building effort to convert the rabid Islamist hordes to liberal democracy is an effective war fighting strategy?

The purpose of the military is to kill people and break things, not to act as social workers with machine guns.

52 posted on 10/04/2006 9:22:59 AM PDT by AdamSelene235 (Truth has become so rare and precious she is always attended to by a bodyguard of lies.)
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To: Scotsman will be Free
All cops are jack booted thugs, etc.

More hyperbole that is actually just lies.


53 posted on 10/04/2006 9:24:12 AM PDT by Protagoras (Billy only tried to kill Bin Laden, he actually succeeded with Ron Brown and Vince Foster.)
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To: Blackirish
Just curious when did so called conservatives become backers of big government ?

When haven't they? (And no, that's not a sarcastic, rhetorical question.) I'm trying to remember a case where conservatives actually shrank the size of government rather than merely growing it at a rate that was too small the satisfy liberals; but, I can't come up with any. They have certainly talked a good game over the years, but where are the results? I've always believed that being a conservative meant wanting government to shrink to its smallest practical size. I'm beginning to question that belief. Does "conservative" actually mean "liberal-lite"?

54 posted on 10/04/2006 9:24:16 AM PDT by Redcloak (Speak softly and wear a loud shirt.)
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To: Extremely Extreme Extremist

Of course illegals would have incentive to come here. It's called work. They would work for less than legal residents just like they do now. Do you want us to go back 100 years in our standard of living?


55 posted on 10/04/2006 9:24:46 AM PDT by Scotsman will be Free
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To: Psycho_Bunny
That's a fairly common assessment of peoples' confusion.

If you wonder what libertarians are like, just visualize the authors of our Declaration of Independence, Constitution, and Federalist Papers.

That should clear it up.

56 posted on 10/04/2006 9:25:29 AM PDT by elkfersupper
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To: tang0r

I'm already a libertarian. I was even a Libertarian until the went all "anti-war at any cost conspiracy left wing barking moonbat open borders are good" on me. Now I'm just a libertarian again.


57 posted on 10/04/2006 9:26:03 AM PDT by Dead Corpse (Quam terribilis est haec hora)
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To: tang0r
The libertarian ideology is one of the most misunderstood in American politics.

I would argue that it's most commonly misunderstood by libertarians themselves. Get a bunch of them in a room together and they agree on almost nothing--except that smoking pot is cool and looking at pornography is fun.

Libertarianism is the perfect ideology for the frat house--and for 50-year-old adolescents.
58 posted on 10/04/2006 9:27:25 AM PDT by Antoninus (Rule 4: See Rules 1 and 3. Rule 5: NO FOLEYS!)
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To: Redcloak
Does "conservative" actually mean "liberal-lite"?

Today's garden-variety conservative and garden-variety liberal both believe in big government solutions to societal problems. They only differ in what the problems are and what the outcomes should be.

For example, if you're a conservative, and homosexuality's the problem, it's okay to support a government crack-down on homos. If you're a liberal, and the problem is global warming, it's okay to support a government crack-down on SUVs.

59 posted on 10/04/2006 9:29:08 AM PDT by Hemingway's Ghost (Spirit of '75)
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To: Protagoras

Oh, really! Why is that everytime a thread is started based on a main stream media news article about a supposed police screwup, the libertarian cop haters come out of the wood work trashing all cops? Hmm? Happens every time. On everything else the MSM quacks about, most folks here hold off and waits for more info before coming to a conclusion or automatically dismisses it as liberal propaganda. That is not the case with anti cop stories. I've read it repeatedly, and if I or another makes a comment in favor of the cops or simply asks the cop slammers to wait for more info we are automatically labeled boot lickers, etc.
No hyperbole, and no lies. Your refusal to acknowledge the obvious is just another reason to ignore libertarian ranters.


60 posted on 10/04/2006 9:31:25 AM PDT by Scotsman will be Free
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