Letters to the Editor
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re: what about me
Since it's early and I'm bored I will take this opportunity to try and answer some of the points you raised. Plus I'm the one that made the statement you referenced below.
Or was it that when you said "koo koo libertarians", you were only talking about a certain few?
Bingo! IMO whenever someone take a all-of-nothing absolutist position concerning wanting to be free as some Libertarians do here, it completely precludes all discussion and rational discourse.
Some of you here have such venom!! And I feel it deeply. And it really sucks ... because it makes absolutely no sense to me. Are all dems this way? Is this group here a good representative sample? I just don't get it.
No, some of us have a sense of humor about certain individuals who seem to always attempt to hijack and steer these discussions away from the topic at hand and instead to make it about Libertarianism and being free and everyone getting a pony, and lots and lots of candy.
Dems are not supposed to be the group of exclusion and mockery. Threads like this make you seem like neocons without the fangs.
After nearly seven years of GWBush and a steady diet of The Daily Show, Colbert Report, Bill Maher show, and other staples that help keep me sane I've earned the right to occasionally mock and ridicule. Especially when the targets walk around with signs on their foreheads just asking to be kicked.
Or are you just saying that pure libertarianism is unfeasible? That is almost certainly true! And as much as I would still like to give it a shot, I can't see it ever happening or working very well. Too many people are too invested in telling everyone else how to live.
Maybe that is all you're saying ... that libertarianism is impractical? I dunno. It's hard to tell with all of the angry spittle flying back and forth.
I certainly feel it is impractical, and talking about these issues in an abstract absolutist manner just begs to be made fun of. If you can't tell what's what you really aren't trying very hard. Follow the links provided by the posters and read their comments in an orderly fashion and one should easily be able to discern the wheat from the chaff.
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re: what about me - the end
Can you even grasp that this country is set up the way it is because people were pissed off that they were being told how they had to live their lives? Some people said, "Fu%@ it!! I'm going to go chop wood and build a house and pray to whomever and smoke whatever and everyone else can go fu%@ themselves if they don't like it. And the king can go fu%@ himself twice. Tax this, fu%@face!!" Do you get that democracy is, in fact, a by-product of libertarianism in it's purest sense? Do you get that laws in communities are not contradictory to fundamental libertarianism...but rather, are examples of it?!?
I think your example is a mish-mash of half-truths and Hollywood generated myths.
There were very real but specific reasons why people came to this country, but it didn't stop them from forming communities, eventually states, and then joining together as a country. Through it all, the practice of governing was going on. Sometimes poorly, but nonetheless people pretty much accepted that keeping the herd of cats together meant allowing a government to create and enforce laws, among many many other tasks and duties.
A very simplistic rendering with all shades of gray and any nuance removed, but I think more in line with the truth rather than the silly John Wayne, rugged American Individualist fantasy that so many people believe.
Now, there's a certain grouping of Libertarians here who would have us believe that all Government is evil and bad and should be done away with. And they also want a pony and free candy.
Well, ain't going to happen here, not in 10 years, a 100, or even a 1000 years.
Now, if these people want to discuss how certain aspects of Libertarian thought and ideas can be introduced into our existing governing framework for the betterment of all and sundry, I'd certainly be willing to leave my snarkiness at the door.
But the problem is, once they do that then they are no longer following Libertarian Principals and therefore they have to turn in their badges and play books. That's based on their own information and websites. It's a catch-22 with no chance to be resolved.
So typically hilarity ensues ...
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bucky1 -- Please come back man!
I would like to mention that I do not find your philosophy repellent. It is better than a number of governance schemes, some of which exist in the world right now: dictatorship, oligarchy, fascism, National Socialism, corporatism, feudalism, chaos, etc. Also, I am happy to be reminded of the importance of individual freedom.
I was trained in mathematics and an axiom is any starting assumption from which other statements are logically derived.
As such, I am hoping for a well reasoned and deep debate. Perhaps you can provide some links by experts in your philosophy.
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Aayn Rand Urged Military Privitization
The only time I saw Ayn Rand was when Les Payne had a show and she was a guest. That night she advocated our armed forces should be supported by voluntary contributions rather than the present system of funded by our government. As a pacifist (and a World War 2 navy vet) I support such a concept knowing this would help eliminate these enless foreign misadventures our leaders have entangled us into since 1945.
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parryisle & Private Armies
As a pacifist (and a World War 2 navy vet) I support such a concept knowing this would help eliminate these enless foreign misadventures our leaders have entangled us into since 1945.
I hear what you are saying, but I am not so sure of this. It seems to me that the private corps in Iraq are doing just fine. When there is money to be made, there will be people to take the risk. Would not our government have simply paid some group to fight in Vietnam?
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re: re: KB4Hire does ad hominem well
Why go to his site? It's a koo-koo Libertarian site with nothing to offer people with any lick of common sense. I mean, you obviously go there, right? I rest my case.
You never had a case to rest. I sugjested that you take your slander of the retired man whose words I quoted and that KB4Hire/LWM tried to belittle by where it is posted --- to the man himself. The author.
By the way, a man named Glenn Greenwald has posts there also. While you be calling Glenn names also?