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Coming Out as a Libertarian
6/8//18 | self

Posted on 06/08/2018 8:59:15 PM PDT by ChinaGotTheGoodsOnClinton

I am really ticked off that the government spied on a presidential campaign and investigated and exonerated the other major parties nominee after giving everyone and their uncles' immunity. There is no other way to explain this other than to say that no other explanation makes sense but we have Mueller, who was in charge of the FBI during the 9-11 attacks. His FBI receives numerous tips that Saudi nationals on student visas were taking extensive airline flight training in Florida but were strangely not concerned about landings. His response to the disaster was the fiasco the FBI, SAIC, virtual casefile debacle, a case study in secure development projects going off the rails. To put it as kindly as possible “Farris” Mueller is a tool, better at kissing deep-state behinds than directing the FBI to keep Americans safe.

But equally appalling is the Republican response. Paul Ryan has said recently we don’t know yet if the FBI leadership had done anything wrong, and Tea Party darling and Permanent Intelligence Select Committee Chair Trey Gowdy saying words to the effect that if the evidence existed to start an espionage probe, citizens should be happy one was started. The idea of the federal government using its massive signals intelligence capabilities against not a threat to the US, but against a political opponent is a civil libertarian's doomsday scenario. This is what was argued would happen if the PATRIOT Act was passed, and it turns out we were right all along.

And nobody has noticed!


TOPICS: Philosophy; Political Humor/Cartoons; Politics/Elections
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To: jobim

Agreed. Good points all. I’d say I am a ‘national defense’ libertarian a bit to the right of Rand Paul. Some libertarians are more like the RATs, but Paul is more like the PUBBIES.

Adam Smith laid out the things a federal government is needed for. Defense, trade standards, weights and measures, exploration, and interstate transportation.

Nowhere on that list is cradle to grave assistance.


41 posted on 06/09/2018 10:26:58 AM PDT by ChinaGotTheGoodsOnClinton (Go Egypt on 0bama)
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To: ChinaGotTheGoodsOnClinton
Agreed. But it is (would have been, alas) only through competition
that governments would compete for citizens by giving them what they want.

I say this, and I cheer loudly for President Trump at the same time.
We live in the present and not in a theoretical bubble of pure possibility.
42 posted on 06/09/2018 12:00:34 PM PDT by jobim
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To: vannrox

Great assessment of the current state of affairs, and you have one of the most interesting homepages on FR.


43 posted on 06/09/2018 12:55:35 PM PDT by matthew fuller (How many of today's voters have ever seen a half-dollar coin (or silver dollar)?)
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To: Robert DeLong
The only real option I found was to retake the republican Party back to where it originated from.

The problem with that tactic is that the minute "they" think you have any likelihood of success, they will unleash the full power of the government against you, unchecked by any restraining morality or sense of justice, because they have neither. You're seeing it in the case of Trump. He was never supposed to win. Personally, I'm rather shocked that they haven't just killed him. Perhaps they still (correctly) believe they control all the important levers of power.

The solution is to vote from the rooftops, but not enough of the nation is ready for that, and as long as bread and circuses continue, that is likely to remain the case.

44 posted on 06/09/2018 2:07:43 PM PDT by zeugma (Power without accountability is fertilizer for tyranny.)
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To: zeugma

Nonsense. But let’s suppose you are correct. What assurances do you have the Libertarian Party wouldn’t do the same thing.


45 posted on 06/09/2018 4:55:06 PM PDT by Robert DeLong
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To: ifinnegan

Boy those are names I haven’t seen in a while.

Sorely missed.


46 posted on 06/09/2018 5:02:02 PM PDT by Chickensoup (Leftists today are speaking as if they plan to commence to commit genocide against conservatives.)
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To: vannrox

Boy I haven’t seen you around it a while!

Good to see you and I agree totally.


47 posted on 06/09/2018 5:03:56 PM PDT by Chickensoup (Leftists today are speaking as if they plan to commence to commit genocide against conservatives.)
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To: Robert DeLong

I have always thought that some of the libertarian values would integrate nicely into the republican platform.

Like Non interventionism and bringing our troops home to defend our borders.

Shrinking federal powers

I like a lot the libertarianism structured by Richard Maybury. I disagree with his Islamic justification issues, but like most else he has to say.


48 posted on 06/09/2018 5:10:14 PM PDT by Chickensoup (Leftists today are speaking as if they plan to commence to commit genocide against conservatives.)
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To: sargon
"LPUSA are light years beyond Republicans in their passion for limited government"

I'm not going to attempt to defend the GOP. Look up the LPUSA party on how they would of handled WWII.

49 posted on 06/09/2018 6:04:08 PM PDT by Steve Van Doorn (*in my best Eric Cartman voice* 'I love you, guys')
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To: Steve Van Doorn
I'm not going to attempt to defend the GOP. Look up the LPUSA party on how they would of handled WWII.

I don't need to. One of LPUSA's biggest weak points is foreign policy and national defense.

For instance, suppose Hitler had conquered all of Europe, then Canada and Mexico, and began moving troops into those two latter countries—all while striving to develop the A-bomb, of course.

If you're America, do you honestly wait for Hitler's army to attack first? Or develop and use an A-bomb? Ludicrous. At some point—hopefully early on, before it's too late—you preempt that totalitarian piece of sh-t and destroy his capability to conduct aggression.

The LPUSA's hyper-dovish attitude with respect to national defense is their weakest issue. Fortunately, the vast majority of the country would never be so naive, so it would be unlikely to be an issue if the LPUSA somehow magically controlled the federal government. When the People want war—and often when they don't—they get war.

But as far as domestic policy and limited government, the LPUSA would be exemplary. Just review those aspects of their platform. You certainly won't find much "socialism" in a party that wants to abolish things like the Progressive Income Tax, Obamacare, Social(ist) Security, Medicaire, and Medicaid, to name only a few...

50 posted on 06/09/2018 6:50:04 PM PDT by sargon ("If the President doesn't drain the Swamp, the Swamp will drain the President.")
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To: sargon
"You certainly won't find much "socialism" in (the) party"

Explain the nominee they had for president. That is the direction that party is going.

51 posted on 06/09/2018 7:20:25 PM PDT by Steve Van Doorn (*in my best Eric Cartman voice* 'I love you, guys')
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To: Steve Van Doorn
Explain the nominee they had for president. That is the direction that party is going.

That would be the nominee that millions of libertarians abandoned in order to vote for Trump.

Indeed, if LPUSA had an actual libertarian Presidential ticket, Donald Trump might not even have won.

Be thankful for small favors...

52 posted on 06/10/2018 9:34:52 AM PDT by sargon ("If the President doesn't drain the Swamp, the Swamp will drain the President.")
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To: Robert DeLong
Nonsense. But let’s suppose you are correct. What assurances do you have the Libertarian Party wouldn’t do the same thing.

I made no such claim. It is in the nature of power to corrupt. Political parties are made of individual people. Therefore, they are all corruptible. The agenda of the party will tend to push for more liberty, but that will not always be the case, and unaccountable power is that which corrupts absolutely.

53 posted on 06/10/2018 9:40:28 AM PDT by zeugma (Power without accountability is fertilizer for tyranny.)
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To: vannrox

I think the ignorant and unconcerned make up way more than 30%.

Freegards


54 posted on 06/10/2018 9:47:38 AM PDT by Ransomed
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To: sargon
said, "if LPUSA had an actual libertarian Presidential ticket, Donald Trump might not even have won"

I was thinking it did take some leftist away from Hillary as well.

That is a very good point.

55 posted on 06/10/2018 8:56:56 PM PDT by Steve Van Doorn (*in my best Eric Cartman voice* 'I love you, guys')
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