libertarian image | libertarian reality |
Image: non-coercion, no initiation of force | Reality: libertarians legitimise economic injustice, by refusing to define it as coercion or initiated force |
Image: moral autonomy of the individual | Reality: libertarians demand that the individual accept the outcome of market forces |
Image: political freedom | Reality: some form of libertarian government, imposing libertarian policies on non-libertarians |
Image: libertarians condemn existing states as oppressive | Reality: libertarians use the political process in existing states to implement their policies |
Image: benefits of libertarianism | Reality: libertarians claim the right to decide for others, what constitutes a 'benefit' |
Conservatives would also call it "freedom of contract." This guy is nothing more than a liberal leftist!!
This trots out the old communist notion of "economic injustice" and redefines the success of one individual as an assault upon all less successful individuals.
Reality: libertarians demand that the individual accept the outcome of market forces
Nonsense. If I don't like the #1 brand, I can buy the #2 -- or #200 -- instead. This is the fundamental reason why the free market is not coercive (unlike politics, where everyone is stuck with what 50%+1 of the voters deserve).
Reality: some form of libertarian government, imposing libertarian policies on non-libertarians
More nonsense. People who want somebody else to tell them what to do, beyond the limited role of libertarian peace-keeping governance, can follow any personal, religious, social, etc. restrictions they like.
Reality: libertarians use the political process in existing states to implement their policies
Dismantling the abuses of existing states is obviously easier when using the existing mechanisms against them. Think of it as political judo.
Reality: libertarians claim the right to decide for others, what constitutes a 'benefit'
There's no meaningful assertion here to refute.
According to this guy's idiotic argument, political freedom cannot exist anywhere, since every political system advocates itself. What an idiot.
Oh, come on! Even conservatives and honest leftists will tell you that there was nothing libertarian about the California "deregulation" of the electric companies. To even call it "deregulation" was a horribly Clintonian murdering of the word's definition.
Because to do so is illogical. The use of the term injustice requires a definition of justice. It's inappropriate to qualify an outcome w/o knowing what the qualification refers to in the first place. Economic outcomes depend on the contracts made between the parties involved. Libertarians require that coercion be absent as a motivating force in the creation of the contract and operation toword outcome. If it's required to be absent from the beginning, the resultant economic outcome wasn't a result of coercion.
" Reality:
libertarians demand that the individual accept the outcome of market forces"
That's called individual responsibility. To force the consequences of the outcome of individuals actions on others is evil. It amounts to unwarrnanted coercion.
" Reality:
some form of libertarian government, imposing libertarian policies on non-libertarians
Libertarians don't coerce policies. Libertarians insist that individuals have certain rights that are inviolate. They protect life and sovereignty of will. The coerce nothing, but the protection of those rights. That means that authoritarian dictates are forbidden. If other folks wish to be subject to authoritarian dictates, by their own decision, they are welcome to do so.
" Reality:
libertarians use the political process in existing states to implement their policies
Libertarians are peaceful folks that refrain from violence, until the level of tyrany becomes unbearable. They otherwise do what they can to peaceably assert their rights.
" Reality:
libertarians claim the right to decide for others, what constitutes a 'benefit'
Nonsense they do no such thing. Folks have the right to determine what they consider a benefit.