It was in San Francisco in the late 80's, early 90's.
I thought they were fascinating. And I thought (and still do) that many of the points they made were valid. The ones that I knew at the time, and this was before Libertarianism became fashionable, were all sort of uber-nerds. I got the sense that their Libertarianism was based on the fact that they were always the smart kids in the class who got held back by the fact that they were smarter than their teachers, and they resented that. And so it was time for their revenge. Revenge of the Nerds, as it were.
(as a quick aside, I have a friend who was an actor who played one of the main characters in the movie of that same name. And he's a Libertarian. He voted for Romney. Whaddya gonna do? You can't agree with all of your friends about everything.)
I'm VERY libertarian in my personal dealings, and VERY socialist in my view of government. On the whole, I would say that I'm a "Balance-atarian." Too much government is a bad thing, (central planning, as an example) just like too much corporate power is a bad thing.
Like the people I mentioned above, since then, most Libertarians I've talked to don't seem to understand how the real world actually works. They don't seem to understand that forces need to be balanced, and if you give the individual or the corporation all the power they want, things will get out of balance.
The problem we find ourselves in today is that Corporatia has bought and paid for Government. There is no balance. And the genius of it is that Corporatia, through its propaganda networks, has convinced way too many people that it is government that is causing the imbalance. I don't know exactly how we fix things, but Libertarianism sure ain't the answer.
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