Idiot libertarians
Apparently, the lonely libertarian is an idiot. Or so says one of the threads on Democratic Underground.
Two things tend to bug the lonely libertarian, and neither of them is being called dumb. One is when the integrity of my political philosophy is being threatened. According to one poster, Libertarians are Republicans who want to smoke pot. Thank you very much, but I'm a libertarian who wants to smoke pot. The other thing that bugs me is being called a hippie. If I could hire Cartman as a hippie exterminator, I would.
Actually, what I really find insulting is the assumption that libertarians are all very selfish. I'm a student with no money. In my ideal world there would be no need for 3/4 of the lawyers there are today. But I believe in a libertarian philosophy because I believe it is what would be best for all individuals, for all of humanity.
The lonely libertarian must confess to a bit of a fascination with reading some of theses threads, mainly for the purposes of seeing the viewpoint of the "common man" of the other side. This thread actually contains a bit of an interesting debate, although I must admit I'm still a bit thrown by the idea of "leftist libertarians." (Or socialist libertarians, however they want to put it.) Libertarians certainly can have many different beliefs, but I don't see how they can ever be logically divided on the left-right political axis The whole concept of libertarianism is that it falls outside and defies the traditional left-right axis.
It's also hard to understand how someone could be a leftist libertarian to begin with. Regulation by it's very nature restricts individual freedom. And as a general matter you either favor regulation, or you don't. If you're just opposed to excess and unnecessary regulation, that would seem to make you more of a logical liberal, not a leftist libertarian.
Two things tend to bug the lonely libertarian, and neither of them is being called dumb. One is when the integrity of my political philosophy is being threatened. According to one poster, Libertarians are Republicans who want to smoke pot. Thank you very much, but I'm a libertarian who wants to smoke pot. The other thing that bugs me is being called a hippie. If I could hire Cartman as a hippie exterminator, I would.
Actually, what I really find insulting is the assumption that libertarians are all very selfish. I'm a student with no money. In my ideal world there would be no need for 3/4 of the lawyers there are today. But I believe in a libertarian philosophy because I believe it is what would be best for all individuals, for all of humanity.
The lonely libertarian must confess to a bit of a fascination with reading some of theses threads, mainly for the purposes of seeing the viewpoint of the "common man" of the other side. This thread actually contains a bit of an interesting debate, although I must admit I'm still a bit thrown by the idea of "leftist libertarians." (Or socialist libertarians, however they want to put it.) Libertarians certainly can have many different beliefs, but I don't see how they can ever be logically divided on the left-right political axis The whole concept of libertarianism is that it falls outside and defies the traditional left-right axis.
It's also hard to understand how someone could be a leftist libertarian to begin with. Regulation by it's very nature restricts individual freedom. And as a general matter you either favor regulation, or you don't. If you're just opposed to excess and unnecessary regulation, that would seem to make you more of a logical liberal, not a leftist libertarian.
posted by lonely libertarian at 11:30 PM
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