Why would anyone be a Libertarian?

[SHRED]

Seems to me they favor reducing our representative form of government, reducing our choices, and thus reducing our voice.

My fear is that a Libertarian nation would result in a fascist nation(even more than we have now}. Where private interests would rule for their gain over public good.

[neuvocat]

1. Tell will tell you that the republicans

have boosted the size of the government and I believe they would be correct.

[DU9598]

2. Ashcroft

That is a one-word answer.

[bluestateguy]

3. Libertarianism would have worked fine in 18th or early 19th century Americ

Before corporations became so powerful. But as corporate power grew, activist government became necessary to rein in corporate power and protect individuals from corporate control.

[prodigal_green]

4. wait, I thought we had to protect corporations from

individuals. Isn't that what the repug style of tort reform is all about?

[ixion]

5. some libertarian policies are okay

I like their concept of minimalist government, and I REALLY like the idea of returning our Right to Privacy, which has been invaded by both Dems and Rethugs, but for different reasons.

[gordianot]

6. It is an old American tradition.

A viewpoint I do not share but understand.

I am still trying to figure out why Nader is running?

[TahitiNut]

7. Libertarians ("classic liberals") take Lord Acton's words to heart.

"Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely."

They believe that "big" confers "power" ... whether that be government or corporations. What the "neo-libertarians" (or "faux-libertarians") omit is the corporate side of the equation. They're nothing but ideological agitprop for corporatism. True "Hayek"-style libertarians reject the personhood of corporations and reject the notion that a corporation (property) can own another corporation (property). It's fundamental that "property cannot own property" - that's why you can't will your house to your dog. Indeed, most would reject the notion that a corporation can become 'global' any more than a pasture can.

The question is: "How do we get there?"

[ixion]

12. that's a good synopsis, TN

indeed... how do we get there? Or, get back to there?

[Heyo]

8. That is really the total opposite...

of what the Libertarian platform is...

It stands for less government, more freedom, more choices.

Heyo

[private_ryan]

9. they are our best

friends when it comes to the Bill of Rights and a Libertarian nation would be the opposite of a fascist nation. The Government would barely have any power.

[dogtag]

10. Most 'so called' Libertarians that I run into are

single guys who resent having to help pay to educate other people's children. They are also prone to run to the government for help at the 'whim of a hat' and don't see the incongruity. My guess is that they think the label somehow sounds 'sexy' and fear the now wussy other "L" word, Liberal. Perhaps they have it confused with Libertine. Most folks who answer to Libertarian are confused, IMHO.

[Booster]

23. You're right about them being confused. Larry Elder, the talk

show, said for years that he was Libertarian and talked down both parties on his shows. When Grey Davis got into trouble and it was clear ANYBODY could probably beat him for becoming gov of CA, well, lo & behold, Larry sees the light and changes overnight to a repug. Now he is one of Bush's biggest cheerleaders and thinks Bush can do no wrong. Talk about getting your ducks in a row for a future run at office - he's really worse than Hannity when it comes to loudly talking over someone when they don't agree with him. Real asshole.

[dogtag]

25. Larry Elder used to be our local cross to bear,

I understand that he can now be heard all over the country. Los Angeles radio is full of "Larrys" who claim to be Libertarian, but whose true colors are out in full repuke glory these days.

[IronLionZion]

11. They want to deregulate corporations

I mean personal freedoms are great but corporations will rape and pillage the world much worse than they are now.


And my biggest beef with the economic policies of the Libertarians is that they want to drastically increase the wage gap by getting rid of the minimum wage while increasing executive wages.

[camero]

13. Libertarians= Pot smoking Republicans n/t

[Cats Against Frist]

14. I'm not a "Libertarian," but I am a "libertarian"

And I will tell you why:

Because after being a "state socialist" for seven years, two things happened:

1. I was introduced to the HORROR that is GOP "big government."

2. I spent the summer reading libertarian, anarchist, and anarchosyndicalist philosophy.

It was at this point that I realized:

1. That the government, which includes the military and the police state, exists to legitimize corporatism, and provide an infrastructure where the concentration of wealth is encouraged.

2. "Personal Responsibility" needed to be stolen back from the GOP, and meant to mean personal responsibility for EVERYONE, not just the fabled "welfare queens," and that mothers, fathers, elected representatives, CEOs of big companies, Wall-Street brokers, Christians, et. al., have a RESPONSIBILITY to their society, and that responsibility includes protecting the environment, being fair, giving workers decent wages -- it's all psychological.

3. That rather than helping some "poor exploited underclass," the left is actually entrenched in saving millions of apathetic, irresponsible, complacent lower and middle class consumers from themselves.

4. The power to be discriminate with labor and consumer choice, is as good a weapon as anything.

5. The "free market" is not what the GOP is advocating -- they want corporatism or corpo-fascism, which includes regressive taxes on the middle class, corporate and farm subsidy, stripping the consumer of bargaining and purchasing power, using the government to bust labor unions, and using the military and the police state for corporate interests.

6. That it was a lot more effective to expose the right for what it was, which is A CABAL OF BIG GOVERNMENT THEOCRATS AND JACKBOOTED CORPO-FASCISTS, and accept some of the critiques of the left -- in other words, leave behind some of the "identity politics," and uphold civil liberties, while at the same time, giving more power to the states, and an opportunity to let people segregate themselves, if they so wish, and have "looser" or "tighter" state laws.

7. That I am intensely in favor of being involved in city, county and state politics, which both libertarians and Libertarians encourage.

8. I like the environmental policy of the libertarians, which wishes to cede some public lands to private nonprofit groups, Native Americans, environmentally friendly homesteaders etc. -- realizing too, that the air and water is our property, and rather than creating environmental REGULATIONS, they would create rather large fines for corporations found guilty of poisoning our air and water.

9. I believe in both the individual and the collective, and the right to choose to which group you wish to belong.

10. That the utmost respect for the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, and the tenets of classical liberalism make more sense, philosophically, than either the left or right doctrines. (you can see that I'm not a "pure" anarchist/anarchosyndicalist because I do accept hierarchy, as well as Constitutional government -- I really am a mix of left and right libertarian).

11. And that, from this perspective, I can more easily argue with Republicans, and reveal them for what they are: hypocrites, liars, theives, corporatists, jingoists and snake oil salesmen. Because one day I'm a state-socialist, a GODLESS COMMIE, and then three months later, I'm the one who gets to wrap myself in the flag, I'm the one who's loudest about protecting the second amendment, I'm for freedom, they're for fascism, and I can point out to them EXACTLY why. It's quite effective for disillusioning GOPPERS, who were still under the illusion that their party gave a rat's ass about liberty, freedom, the free market, or anything else they give lip service to, but their policies obviously don't match.

Good enough?

[tomorrowsashes]

31. I too am a libertarian (lower case)

I too would consider myself a libertarian, more specifically, an anarchosyndicalist. I believe that all hierarchy is unnecessary, and that there are much more efficient and open means of organization. I believe that government only serves to protect those in power, while stating that it is protecting the population as a whole. Property is theft. Capitalism is murder. I believe that the wage system should be abolished, and that the ideas of earning and deserving are flawed.

People are good at heart. They want to live peacefully and hapilly. It is when you require a certain amount of property in order to achieve that state that greed comes into the picture. A large number of successful anarchist communes have existed throughout history. The biggest example would be Catalonia in Spain (1936-1939) during the Spanish Civil War before the communist and fascist forces crushed the workers non-state. Others would be the free city of Christiana in Denmark, the workers' communes during the Hungarian revoulution, the Zapatistas in Chiapas, Mexico and the Jewish kibbutzim before the establishment of the Israeli state. People are capable of living without the tyranny of power and hierarchy.

[Leilani]

15. One simple reason:

No Jerry Falwell!

The Fundies could not dictate to us.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

16. Pure libertarianism, if applied as the Libertarian party wishes,

would eventually lead to feudalism or something close to it.

Look at the Third World: most of those countries have no government services except police and the military, little or no public education, no restrictions on business activity, no pure food and drug laws (if you think food safety is bad here and now read about food and water borne diseases in other times and places), no environmental or labor laws, no health care unless you pay for it, no fire department except your neighbors with buckets and hoses, etc.

The rich buy their way out with private guards, private schools, exclusive and expensive supplies of food and water, private medical care, houses in the least polluted areas, and private contracts with fire and ambulance services. Meanwhile, they can get even richer, because they can pay slave wages with no benefits and don't have to make any adjustments to their business for safety or environmental purposes.

Those hellish and unfair conditions are too high a price to pay for being allowed to smoke dope or have an abortion.

Don't fall for the libertarian Kool-Aid.

[dogtag]

17. Applause, applause...well done, Lydia.

I've lived in "liberatarian' countries, behind the guarded gates, and found myself incapable of enjoying the benefits of life at the top of the heap. The thrill of cheap and plentiful servants wears thin quickly and though you may be on top of the heap, you're still surrounded by 'heap' and people who want to see you dead. No thanks.

[Cats Against Frist]

22. And look at what we have with the government we have now

which is huge, and run by theocratic corpo-fascists. Oh, but they like social programs...

And what do you think is happening in this country? There are 280 million Americans -- of which I would guess at least 200+ million are able to vote, and we STILL have these right-wing whackjobs in charge of our country. Who do you think puts them there? Even if you say the GOP stole the 2000 election (with which I agree), it still should have been a LANDSLIDE for Al Gore. Or a landslide for Ralph Nader, or hell, a landslide for a "big-L" libertarian -- but GEORGE FUCKING IDIOT BUSH "wins?"

Who do you think put him there? Who do you think buys all the shit that these "evil" corporations put out there? Who do you think stands by, getting fatter and fatter and watching reality TV, while the air is poisoned, the water is poisoned, overtime pay is cut, the homeless rate goes up, our civil liberties are being stripped away, and our tax dollars are being simultaneously funneled to large corporations, and being used to kill babies in Iraq?

Do you think it's just the ultra-wealthy? Do you think it's just the evangelicals -- for that matter -- do you think it's even just the REPUBLICANS???

There is never too high a price to pay for your civil liberties -- even "a liberal utopia," and anything that's possible with "big government" is possible with small, or decentralized -- if the court system remains intact. The power is in the hands of the people, and that is the ONLY place that it is and has ever resided. It's a philosophical theory. Pragmatically, I have always voted, and WILL always vote with the party that stands to challenge the Theocrats and the corporatists -- but, philosophically, I disagree.

By giving up on the human race and saying "people will never be good without government," you are buying into the exact same argument that the GOP uses to rationalize that "government won't fix anything." It's disempowering, it's discouraging -- and it takes the responsibility out of the hands of the people, and turns responsibility into a removed, abstract concept -- and absolves the most IRRESPONSIBLE amongst us from accountability.

I agree with above posters who said this might not be the right time for anarchy or libertarianism -- only because our current system is not only nationalized through government, but through a national "psyche," national branding and technology. Also, wealth is too concentrated -- so it would take a complete collapse of the current system -- hopefully the Constitution would still be relevant, and in tact, and have some sort of legitimacy -- but I don't really know.

So, again, I support Democrats with my vote. But I don't support the goals of the typical liberal "socialist" left.

Don't harsh on all those who are against large government -- many of us are very leftist -- many are way more left than myself. We're not all disaffected GOPPERS -- some are, particularly in the "Big L" Libertarian party, and we stand with you against the right. Or I do.

[Nikia]

18. The real ones are idealists

At a pro marijuana/hemp legalization that I want to, there was a group of Liberatarians. They seemed like very good intentioned people. They strongly believed in civil liberties. They believed in smaller government and deregulation. They believed in settling things in court (like someone getting hurt in the workplace) rather than the government fining people for breaking certain regulations. They believed that the government getting out of people's lives would foster the responsibility of individuals. They also believed in dissolving corporate personhood.
It all sounds nice, but that's not how the world actually works. Probably most problematic was their suggestion that public schools should be abolished. High school drop outs are the group that is most likely to be poor and end in the prision system. Having only private schools would certainly lead to more uneducated poor children leading to more poverty and crime. Working in the food industry, I would never want those regulations to be eliminated. Unlike restaurants, few customers ever see what goes on in those plants and we don't want waste cardboard being used as fillers or anything. Somehow I don't think that the first piece of Liberatarian legislation would be the end of corporate personhood, leading to what many people fear.

[progressivebydesign]

19. GREED. plain and simple.

They want no interference, because they don't want to pay for anything. They think that the freakin' road fairy paves their streets for them... etc.

[dogtag]

20. LOL, ....road fairy...LOL

[Hippo_Tron]

26. Nah, the Greedy people vote Republican

I don't champion the libertarians by any mean, but they are definately not the party of greed when compared to the GOP.

[fujiyama]

21. I have my differences with them

especially on the issues you mentioned, but the libertarian party is very consistant in their platform. It may not be realistic or sensible in many aspects but it is consistent.

I do hate those "libertarians" that vote republican. Republicans aren't libertarian in anyway. They're theocratic fascists. These faux libertarians are just worried about tax cuts.

[mitchum]

24. Arrested development?

[JHBowden]

27. Economic Growth and Personal Freedoms

Many libertarians are fanatics and want a pacifist foreign policy, give everyone a machine gun, privatize our national parks, and so forth.

Moderate libertarians make sense -- get the government to do more with less while respecting personal freedoms. In many aspects they are more preferable than the Democrats, e.g. the death penalty, the war on drugs, and the Patriot Act.

[OneTwentyoNine]

28. Don't know....Call Neil Boortz in the morning.....

Maybe he'll give you his spiel. Funny how Neil is a stanch Libertarian but ALWAYS comes down on the Republican side. Oh and...when was the last time Neil ever mentioned ONE Libertarian running for ANYTHING???

He's like O'Reilly,use what ever angle you can cook up to get a show up and running and hope you don't get outed.

David

[ikojo]

29. Libertarians believe that the free market can solve all

problems. I got into an argument with a Libertarian about ten or so years ago. It was during a time when McDonnell Douglas (now Boeing) was laying off a bunch of people. The Lib was complaining that all of the laid off people were going to receive unemployment benefits. When I asked him what should they do if they are laid off, he replied they could go to school or start a business!


WITH WHAT MONEY! Oy vey!

Oh, this guy was a lawyer for whom money was never going to be a problem.

[sweetheart]

30. I'm a libertarian democrat...

...come flame me. ;-) I believe that less government is more, and
that all wars should end, yesterday. I am for an end to all social
restrictions on indiviual liberty, and end to the war on drugs, and
an end to corporate personhood. I am for the right to life, to be
held up as the "zero"th amendment, and to supercede the right to
own handguns and non-hunting guns. I am for universal healthcare as
a human right, and that the universal declaration of human rights
should finally be ratified by the congress.

I don't believe in big government, wars, and theocracy. In this
regard, i share a lot with a small "c" conservative, or in today's
confused world, anyone who opposes criminal republican government.