Why aren't more people Libertarian?

bripat isn't even out of the family basement yet. He has plenty of space in which to descend to his true depth of human depravity.
 
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My problem with Libertarians is that they have gone the absolutist route for as long as I can remember. I think that's a shame, because my guess is that a pragmatic fiscal conservative/social liberal approach is favored by a large percentage of Americans. But when you start talking about abolishing a long list of departments and safety net mechanisms, you lose most of us.

Funny how moderation is good in eating, drinking, exercise and life in general, but it's taboo in politics.

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Most of us would be ecstatic just to see the Dept of Ed. go.

You can't say you don't agree with that because the GOP has paid lip service to that for decades now.
 
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My problem with Libertarians is that they have gone the absolutist route for as long as I can remember. I think that's a shame, because my guess is that a pragmatic fiscal conservative/social liberal approach is favored by a large percentage of Americans. But when you start talking about abolishing a long list of departments and safety net mechanisms, you lose most of us.

Funny how moderation is good in eating, drinking, exercise and life in general, but it's taboo in politics.

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Most of us would be ecstatic just to see the Dept of Ed. go.

You can't say you don't agree with that because the GOP has paid lip service to that for decades now.


Great, then get there over time. It took decades for this country to stack department on top of department, entitlement on top of entitlement. Grab the huge fiscal conservative/socially liberal vote and change their hearts and minds. Show them over time how departments can be slightly controlled and downsized, and at some point you may have what you want.

Trying to cram it down everyone's throat right away will scare off 99% of the people you could otherwise attract.
And right now, that's the way the Libertarians are perceived. Crazy, absolutist loons.

Politics is all about perception.

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My problem with Libertarians is that they have gone the absolutist route for as long as I can remember. I think that's a shame, because my guess is that a pragmatic fiscal conservative/social liberal approach is favored by a large percentage of Americans. But when you start talking about abolishing a long list of departments and safety net mechanisms, you lose most of us.

Funny how moderation is good in eating, drinking, exercise and life in general, but it's taboo in politics.

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Most of us would be ecstatic just to see the Dept of Ed. go.

You can't say you don't agree with that because the GOP has paid lip service to that for decades now.


Great, then get there over time. It took decades for this country to stack department on top of department, entitlement on top of entitlement. Grab the huge fiscal conservative/socially liberal vote and change their hearts and minds. Show them over time how departments can be slightly controlled and downsized, and at some point you may have what you want.

Trying to cram it down everyone's throat right away will scare off 99% of the people you could otherwise attract.
And right now, that's the way the Libertarians are perceived. Crazy, absolutist loons.

Politics is all about perception.

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I would have thought back in 02 when the GOP gained both houses and had the white house that they would have made some kind of effort on that front...but instead they expanded the bureaucracy with NCLB.

There's really no one left fighting for smaller government anymore. Just an illusion of such.
 
I wasn't aware the Libertarian Party was in power in any states. Which one is it?

You almost act as if you are unaware that the teaparty republicans are calling themselves libertarians when it suits them, acting as if all it entails is a reactionary hatred of everything federal, these are the ones ruining your image and the kind of person that makes up the bulk of American libertarians. I can admit that you at least walk the walk but the OP asks why more people are not libertarians and the real answer is that the crazies have ruined the brand. I have no faith that any candidate of the libertarian party would not revert to basic knee jerk conservative republican if they were to gain power in some way because that is what they are at heart.

Oh I'm not unaware of the fact. It's something libertarians have seen for decades. When out of power Republicans will talk like libertarians, and even claim to be libertarians, but when in power they'll do what they've always done. I simply don't understand why you insist on referring to these people as libertarians. It's quite dishonest.
Occupooped is nothing if not dishonest....A dishonesty born of the naked bigotry that comes with sheer ignorance.
 
Because libertarianism just like communism is a philosophy for criminals.
That is about the stupidest thing you've ever posted...And it's not like we don't already have a decent pool of stupidity from which to chose.

That is a little over-the-top. It's more like a philosophy for the wishful thinkers that will inevitably be co-opted by the criminally minded, much like Marxism was.
 
The philosophy confuses the terms "freedom" and "liberty" into something they don't mean. True libertarianism can be found in the prison yards of America and in the patriarchal culture of Rome. Don't want that trash here.

Because libertarianism just like communism is a philosophy for criminals.
That is about the stupidest thing you've ever posted...And it's not like we don't already have a decent pool of stupidity from which to chose.
 
Because libertarianism just like communism is a philosophy for criminals.
That is about the stupidest thing you've ever posted...And it's not like we don't already have a decent pool of stupidity from which to chose.

That is a little over-the-top. It's more like a philosophy for the wishful thinkers that will inevitably be co-opted by the criminally minded, much like Marxism was.
No, it's not over the top.

What is know today as libertarianism is the classical liberalism that was the basis for the founding of the nation.

Now, if you're going to try and paint the likes of Jefferson, Franklin, Adams, Monroe and the rest as wishful thinkers, you have at it.
 
The philosophy confuses the terms "freedom" and "liberty" into something they don't mean. True libertarianism can be found in the prison yards of America and in the patriarchal culture of Rome. Don't want that trash here.

Because libertarianism just like communism is a philosophy for criminals.
That is about the stupidest thing you've ever posted...And it's not like we don't already have a decent pool of stupidity from which to chose.

Since Comrade Starkey can not speak Russian , he opted to speak using Orwellian terms instead - hence Liberty is Slavery and vice-versa.

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The philosophy confuses the terms "freedom" and "liberty" into something they don't mean. True libertarianism can be found in the prison yards of America and in the patriarchal culture of Rome. Don't want that trash here.

Because libertarianism just like communism is a philosophy for criminals.
That is about the stupidest thing you've ever posted...And it's not like we don't already have a decent pool of stupidity from which to chose.

You have such a jaded view of people in general. It's kind of sad that you assume people would devolve into the worst behaviors by default.

After a storm like Sandy hit, sure there are people who looked to take advantage...but the overwhelming majority of people stepped up and helped their fellow man as much as they could.

There are way more good people out there than bad. And no amount of laws is going to make the bad people good anyway.
 
The so-called libertarians here are only digging themselves in deeper.

They want to redefine traditional and historical terms as well as revise history.

Buncha loonies. In Conty's case, a dangerous loony.
 
That is about the stupidest thing you've ever posted...And it's not like we don't already have a decent pool of stupidity from which to chose.

That is a little over-the-top. It's more like a philosophy for the wishful thinkers that will inevitably be co-opted by the criminally minded, much like Marxism was.
No, it's not over the top.

What is know today as libertarianism is the classical liberalism that was the basis for the founding of the nation.

Now, if you're going to try and paint the likes of Jefferson, Franklin, Adams, Monroe and the rest as wishful thinkers, you have at it.

In a way they were. Their liberal republic was co-opted by the robber barons of the gilded age. Want to go back to that, when you couldn't trust the food you bought and were forced to buy everything from from more and more powerful monopolies? Those guys were just men. They weren't gods who never got anything wrong.
 
I fully understand that people are composed on angelica and demonic qualities.

Rule of Law, not of Man, in a constitutional republic with minority protections is the best, unfortunately, we have been able to develop in thousands of years.

Understandably, the overwhelming majority of mankind is not going to willingly trot backwards to Roman-style or prison-style government.

The philosophy confuses the terms "freedom" and "liberty" into something they don't mean. True libertarianism can be found in the prison yards of America and in the patriarchal culture of Rome. Don't want that trash here.

That is about the stupidest thing you've ever posted...And it's not like we don't already have a decent pool of stupidity from which to chose.

You have such a jaded view of people in general. It's kind of sad that you assume people would devolve into the worst behaviors by default.

After a storm like Sandy hit, sure there are people who looked to take advantage...but the overwhelming majority of people stepped up and helped their fellow man as much as they could.

There are way more good people out there than bad. And no amount of laws is going to make the bad people good anyway.
 
I fully understand that people are composed on angelica and demonic qualities.

Rule of Law, not of Man, in a constitutional republic with minority protections is the best, unfortunately, we have been able to develop in thousands of years.

Understandably, the overwhelming majority of mankind is not going to willingly trot backwards to Roman-style or prison-style government.

The philosophy confuses the terms "freedom" and "liberty" into something they don't mean. True libertarianism can be found in the prison yards of America and in the patriarchal culture of Rome. Don't want that trash here.

You have such a jaded view of people in general. It's kind of sad that you assume people would devolve into the worst behaviors by default.

After a storm like Sandy hit, sure there are people who looked to take advantage...but the overwhelming majority of people stepped up and helped their fellow man as much as they could.

There are way more good people out there than bad. And no amount of laws is going to make the bad people good anyway.
Right...And those demonic qualities automatically vanish into thin air the moment you become politician or bureaucrat...Especially if you're a liberoidal. :rolleyes:
 
Far better than letting a Rockefeller or Morgan or Contumacious run wild, Oddball.

I fully understand that people are composed on angelic and demonic qualities.

Rule of Law, not of Man, in a constitutional republic with minority protections is the best, unfortunately, we have been able to develop in thousands of years.

Understandably, the overwhelming majority of mankind is not going to willingly trot backwards to Roman-style or prison-style government.

You have such a jaded view of people in general. It's kind of sad that you assume people would devolve into the worst behaviors by default.

After a storm like Sandy hit, sure there are people who looked to take advantage...but the overwhelming majority of people stepped up and helped their fellow man as much as they could.

There are way more good people out there than bad. And no amount of laws is going to make the bad people good anyway.
Right...And those demonic qualities automatically vanish into thin air the moment you become politician or bureaucrat...Especially if you're a liberoidal. :rolleyes:
 
That is a little over-the-top. It's more like a philosophy for the wishful thinkers that will inevitably be co-opted by the criminally minded, much like Marxism was.
No, it's not over the top.

What is know today as libertarianism is the classical liberalism that was the basis for the founding of the nation.

Now, if you're going to try and paint the likes of Jefferson, Franklin, Adams, Monroe and the rest as wishful thinkers, you have at it.

In a way they were. Their liberal republic was co-opted by the robber barons of the gilded age. Want to go back to that, when you couldn't trust the food you bought and were forced to buy everything from from more and more powerful monopolies? Those guys were just men. They weren't gods who never got anything wrong.

Bullshit.

Like a company is going to give up its reputation in order to sell bad food.

But I guess, is better under fascism to have bureaucrats who are willing to create a massive welfare/warfare state wherein they invade every country on the face of mother earth thereby creating massive amounts of deaths, destruction, and provoke "terroristic" retaliatory attacks.

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I fully understand that people are composed on angelica and demonic qualities.

Rule of Law, not of Man, in a constitutional republic with minority protections is the best, unfortunately, we have been able to develop in thousands of years.

Understandably, the overwhelming majority of mankind is not going to willingly trot backwards to Roman-style or prison-style government.

You have such a jaded view of people in general. It's kind of sad that you assume people would devolve into the worst behaviors by default.

After a storm like Sandy hit, sure there are people who looked to take advantage...but the overwhelming majority of people stepped up and helped their fellow man as much as they could.

There are way more good people out there than bad. And no amount of laws is going to make the bad people good anyway.
Right...And those demonic qualities automatically vanish into thin air the moment you become politician or bureaucrat...Especially if you're a liberoidal. :rolleyes:

Politicians can be voted out. How do you get rid of a monopolist, if there's no strong authority to keep them in check? It's not like they don't have demonic qualities themselves.
 
Care to give us the deaths from bad food from 1890 to 1905 in the country, Contumacious?

Fifteen to twenty thousand annually?

We have sanitary violations all the time in our cities' food establishments.

No, it's not over the top.

What is know today as libertarianism is the classical liberalism that was the basis for the founding of the nation.

Now, if you're going to try and paint the likes of Jefferson, Franklin, Adams, Monroe and the rest as wishful thinkers, you have at it.

In a way they were. Their liberal republic was co-opted by the robber barons of the gilded age. Want to go back to that, when you couldn't trust the food you bought and were forced to buy everything from from more and more powerful monopolies? Those guys were just men. They weren't gods who never got anything wrong.

Bullshit.

Like company is going to give up its reputation in order to sell bad food.

But I guess, is better under fascism to have bureaucrats who are willing to create a massive welfare/warfare state wherein they invade every country on the face of mother earth thereby creating massive amounts of deaths, destruction, and provoke "terroristic" retaliatory attacks.

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