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Libertarianism Had Its Moment But Is Ill-Equipped For The Task Of Saving America
The Federalist ^ | 11/15/2023 | Brian Hawkins

Posted on 11/15/2023 10:12:25 AM PST by SeekAndFind

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1 posted on 11/15/2023 10:12:25 AM PST by SeekAndFind
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To: SeekAndFind

“First, our institutions have been seized by ideological activists who have weaponized them against core American values; second, the left is on an evangelizing mission to impose its values across society unless resisted.”

It’s utter nonsense to believe the right would be any less activist if not resisted.

(l)ibertarianism is the bulwark against both the left and right’s control of the people via government power.


2 posted on 11/15/2023 10:19:20 AM PST by Mariner (War Criminal #18)
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To: SeekAndFind

Well republicanism is doing a bang up job... of losing


3 posted on 11/15/2023 10:27:45 AM PST by Pollard (The US government has US citizens as political prisoners!)
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To: SeekAndFind

Pure Libertarian ideals are not practically achievable, because it could only be done in either a fully closed society or a fully Libertarian world.

Libertarians pushing for Libertarian rules in the U.S. alone fail to recognize that leaves the U.S. economy a victim of economies that are not just not Libertarian but the furthest thing from it.


4 posted on 11/15/2023 10:37:11 AM PST by Wuli ( ,)
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To: Mariner
(l)ibertarianism is the bulwark against both the left and right’s control of the people via government power.

Agreed. I wish more so called conservatives would recognize this fact.

5 posted on 11/15/2023 10:37:26 AM PST by thegagline (Sic semper tyrannis! Goldwater in 2024)
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To: Mariner

(l)ibertarianism is the bulwark against both the left and right’s control of the people via government power.

And if implemented here alone makes U.S. people subject to foriegn economic predators that don’t give a dam about Libertarianism. You can have pure Libertrianism only in a single close society or if the whole world was Libertarian.


6 posted on 11/15/2023 10:40:00 AM PST by Wuli ( ,)
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To: SeekAndFind

The libertarian party is a waste of humanity. I consider myself mostly small L libertarian. But I vote conservative.


7 posted on 11/15/2023 10:45:53 AM PST by Vaquero (Don't pick a fight with an old guy. If he is too old to fight, he'll just kill you. )
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To: Mariner
The simple fact is that the government now functions as an instrument of leftist tyranny and has made an alliance with big business to promote corporate fascism, corporate fascism in blackface with a rainbow flag.

Big business is perfectly happy with social communism as long as it gets tax breaks and subsidies and loves how endless regulation and open borders with "free trade" promotes monopoly, stifles competition and forces American wages down.

The primary cause of this sad state of affairs is that the Federal government has far exceeded any authority granted it under the Constitution, more precisely the limited grant of authority under the Commerce Clause has been expanded to include potential as well as actual interstate commerce, i.e., all commerce. Besides being incompetent and ignorant of the unintended consequences of wielding such vast powers, this un-Constitutional authority is the source of the immense corruption we see in DC: the highest ROE for any big company is lobbying.

So the big question is, How do we get rid of this monstrosity? With a huge bought and paid for political machine based on government money, leftist dominance of media, schools and universities and newly perfected techniques of ballot stuffing, normal politics offers faint hope. Even if we win an election, they can always try the next one. The whole point of a written Constitution is that fundamental rights are not up for grabs with every election.

We already live under an authoritarian regime that far exceeds its authority, punishes and sometimes imprisons its political opponents while granting its supporters carte blanche to break the law. So I think only a counter-authoritarian regime can get rid of it by suppressing both the left and the business class and putting America first. This also means decidedly less legal tolerance for anti-social behavior by criminals, drug addicts and others. Does anyone actually believe that the 1st Amendment protects pictures of pullulating pudenda? That it also protects the lying media when they defame their opponents? That "due process" and the prohibition on "cruel and unusual punishment" requires death penalty cases to go through 20 years of appeals? That the Constitution forbids removing mindless drug addicts and the mentally ill from the streets?

8 posted on 11/15/2023 10:50:16 AM PST by pierrem15 ("Massacrez-les, car le seigneur connait les siens" )
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To: SeekAndFind

When was the last time that the size and scope of the government was substantively limited?

1776?


9 posted on 11/15/2023 10:51:03 AM PST by Freest Republican (This space for rent)
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To: SeekAndFind
Unfortunately, libertarianism comes with a minimum IQ requirement.

Most of today's Americans require clear, simple guidelines to function effectively in society. Do-it-yourself morality is a disaster when applied to people who lack critical thinking skills. Our cities and universities are a living testament to that.

10 posted on 11/15/2023 10:59:49 AM PST by Mr. Jeeves ([CTRL]-[GALT]-[DELETE])
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To: Wuli

I partially agree with what you are saying but Libertarianism CAN be overwhelmingly implemented with great success.

It seems that you are only talking about trade and defense. These are the areas where it would matter what the rest of the world does. Perhaps in those areas we would have to use a hybrid model that relied on Libertarian principals but had the flexibility to react to non-Libertarian adversaries.

What about internal matters like fiscal and social programs? How much better off would the US be if it never implemented the Federal Reserve, got off the gold standard, implemented Social Security, fought the war on poverty, etc...

Getting off the gold standard and ceding fiscal control to the Fed CREATES war. If the US had to convince it’s citizens to buy war bonds in order to launch new wars, we would only be able to engage in wars of necessity and we would finish the ones that we start. No more half assed, regime change wars of convenience.

It is about fixing the things we can fully control and using good Libertarian principals on the things we cannot fully control.


11 posted on 11/15/2023 11:09:14 AM PST by nitzy (I wonder if the telescreens in 1984 were first called "free Obamascreens")
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To: SeekAndFind

John Hospers was the Libertarian presidential candidate in 1972.


12 posted on 11/15/2023 11:10:38 AM PST by Pirate Ragnar (Be calm and act.)
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To: Mr. Jeeves

Libertarians have cost republicans a handful of senate seats, particularly in the northwest. I wouldn’t vote for one unless Nikki Haley were the nominee. Sometimes the republicans need to lose.

Bill Maher once called himself a libertarian-crapola. RFK Jr. appeals to them but make no mistake-they’ll give an inch.

Think Mancin the ‘moderate’. 88% of his votes are with Biden. In the meantime our ‘moderates’ vote 50%+ with the rats.

The safest place for one would be Rand as Trump’s VP-said its before. That would be high(er) profile while the rest of the public could learn something.


13 posted on 11/15/2023 11:10:53 AM PST by DIRTYSECRET
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To: SeekAndFind

Libertarianism has no game-plan to deal with radical, violent marxists. Libertarianism use to appeal to me... then I grew up and began living in the real world where there are boogey men and crazies who won’t leave you alone, even if you want to be.


14 posted on 11/15/2023 11:17:42 AM PST by Levy78 (Reject modernity, embrace tradition. )
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To: nitzy

Not practical, not feasible in this world.

To me pure Libertarianism is “wouldn’t it be nice if” pie in the sky Utopia. Cannot exist.


15 posted on 11/15/2023 11:32:37 AM PST by Wuli ( ,)
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To: nitzy
I am not a Libertarian politically, but I am very much a libertarian in practice.

Libertarianism is a necessity in a prosperous society even if just for purely practical reasons. I have never used drugs and rarely consume alcohol, but I consider myself a libertarian in these matters for the simple reason that it is highly impractical for a government to control what its citizens ingest into their own bodies. The political principle that says people should be allowed to get strung out on heroin is the same one that says nobody should ever be forced by the government to get a COVID “vaccine” for any reason.

And lest anyone suggest I’m perfectly fine with strung-out heroin addicts all over the streets of my town … I also believe drug abuse would be practically non-existent in a truly libertarian system of governance where people are forced to deal with the consequences of their own actions.

16 posted on 11/15/2023 11:36:56 AM PST by Alberta's Child (If something in government doesn’t make sense, you can be sure it makes dollars.)
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To: pierrem15

“So the big question is, How do we get rid of this monstrosity?”

Only Regime Change ends this “monstrosity”.

Think: The Fall of Rome

And it would be such an immense world event that the resulting “Dark Age” would make the previous Dark Age look like the Renaissance.

After Ochlocracy comes the benevolent dictator that makes the trains run on time. Caesar. The end of the Republic.


17 posted on 11/15/2023 11:51:48 AM PST by Mariner (War Criminal #18)
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To: Alberta's Child

18 posted on 11/15/2023 11:54:51 AM PST by Dick Bachert
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To: Wuli

(l)ibertarianism is separate and distinct from Libertarianism.


19 posted on 11/15/2023 11:55:40 AM PST by Mariner (War Criminal #18)
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To: thegagline; Mariner; All

The people who want to rule over others will always defeat the people who just want to be left alone.

Either you rule, or you will be ruled. There is no third option.


20 posted on 11/15/2023 11:58:58 AM PST by Reverend Wright ( Everything touched by progressives, dies !)
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