Mr. Bedell came across as an educated and technologically proficient man with strong libertarian leanings, an anger toward the U.S. government, and a belief that far-reaching conspiracies were behind events as big as the Sept. 11, 2001,
...In his writings, Mr. Bedell also railed against U.S. drug laws, particularly the prohibition on marijuana cultivation.
In my opinion, this illustrates there is very little difference between libertarian and leftist/liberal.
You nailed that — been told for years that Libertarians are much closer to the Liberals then Conservatives and just another instance. A couple of conservative ideas and many more liberal ideas does not make a conservative.
Again- as our FReeper friend said last week- a libertarian is an anarchist who bathes ;)
Actually there are some pretty clear differences- but I’m seeing quite a bit of anarchist attitudes creeping in on both the right and the left lately..
I'll second that, Dita.
And neither can be appropriately associated with the Tea Parties who believe in Constitutional government, and not anarchy.
Thanks for the link to the WSJ article.
This guy was clearly messed up.
WOW! Just saw this post as it was right above the really long one I wrote. Just a bit ago on the thread I was talking about how I thought this guy sounded like some libertarians I used to know who seemingly went off the deep end with the whole post-9/11-truther-anti-Bush ranting/conspiracy craze. I’m talking about those who once they saw the government was abusing the Constitution they would become more and more militarized and anti-ALL-government (psuedo-anarchist), but then they would start listening to some of the more left-leaning folks and forget all about the economic impact, and social impact of Socialism/Communism/Statism/Fascism and become useful idiots for the Marxists and the Islamists and all of their assorted playmates on that side of the political spectrum.
Granted, the folks I knew were 99.9% harmless (and those who I had reservations about I shared with trusted law enforcement officials I knew personally — only ONE person the entire time I was in the LP mind you, and I would do it again if I had to).
I want to say one thing here though lest people think I am villifying (sp? WORD? LOL) libertarians and Liberatarians - I am still “libertarian leaning”, a true Constitutionalist at heart, with a very open mind, and open to learning, and find as I age I am getting more conservative in some ways. Maybe more of a traditional GOP supporter “back in the day” (before I was born) when they still pushed for smaller gov’t and less taxes, and more opportunity through decreased regulation, and less wasted through bureaucracy. However, even as a Libertarian I would never support a liberal candidate - except for defending their right to run for office provided they meet all the eligibility requirements to do so, and defending their right to freedom of speech, and inclusion in the democratic electoral process.
See there is another group of Libertarians who have left the party Post-9/11, and to put it plainly we are the more “hawkish”, pro-military types for the most part. We feel the need for a VERY strong (the STRONGEST) defense against our enemies. I will readily admit that I did not like the way Bush handled parts of this war — but who am I to judge him for some things - I don’t know how much Bush understood about the actual legal manuevers necessary to declare war, or how good his lawyers were that advised him. I believe that our military knew what they were talking about, but didn’t have the proof yet, perhaps, and Bush took a calculated leap of faith, and faltered? I don’t know, but the war itself was just - and I couldn’t NOT support our troops, or support other leftist economic policies and activities in order to be at peace... I had to support our soldiers because they were doing what was unpopular, but right... And, I still do.
I have many other former-Libertarian friends who are a lot like me. I think the last 2 folks out of say 20-25 people I worked with a LOT in the LP just resigned last week from their positions in CA with the State LP there. It finally got too liberal even for them to handle - and the State LP made a REALLY stupid decision, but that’s what starts happening when you start drifting to the left... I’m sure there are some Libertarians who are a lot like many Democrats (and many Republican voters, too...) - they vote with the party, but don’t really know what the party is doing, or what’s going on — they are not involved, and perhaps do not know of some of the views of their fellow party members.
Sorry I started to ramble - perhaps I should start writing at my blog again! :)
Anyway, it’s sad that this guy was pretty much libertarian at some point and seems to have gone “anti-war” “Sympathetic to Terrorists” “anti-military” (or at least our present military’s assignment). Make no mistake this man, and his actions are a product of the extreme coercion that is employed by the left, and has been for close to 9 years now. He was “one of them” who decided “enough was enough”, but by then had COMPLETELY FORGOTTEN about the libertarian’s moral imperative which is to no INITIATE FORCE - which he clearly did, and lethal force at that. “Totally uncool” as far as libertarians are concerned... Right “in-line” with Revolutionary Communist Beliefs - and Jihad too, incidentally (or perhaps not...).
I rambled on in response to La Enchiladita’s post regarding my own thoughts and experiences as formerly being a member of the Libertarian Party [Left in June 2002], still holding some “libertarian” leanings (more of an Independent Conservative Constitutionalist I would say - and totally NOT anti-war).
Anyway, I thought you two might be interested in reading it for a little different perspective on this guy... I’m pretty sure I understand what happened to this guy and how he became literally the OPPOSITE of a libertarian, if he even really understood what it meant in the first place... :) Or at least this is my guess — I’ve seen the path they take, and I’ve seen it happen — just obviously not to this extreme (and this is extreme).
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/2464379/posts?page=544#544