Muda69 Posted July 17, 2019 Share Posted July 17, 2019 https://reason.com/2019/07/16/the-last-few-days-exemplify-why-im-libertarian-and-why-you-should-be-too/ Quote Things are getting uglier by the second in American politics and the sheer awfulness of the current moment perfectly illustrates why I'm libertarian. Do you really want to live in a world where you're constantly living inside either Donald Trump's mind or that of Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's (D–N.Y.) democratic socialist "squad"? Our lives are too short, too fleeting, too important to spend all of our waking hours engaged in the systematic organization of hatreds, which is as good a working definition of politics as there is. There's ultimately not a lot of wiggle room between Trumpian conservatism, which demands complete reverence for the Donald and includes bolder and bolder threats to stifle free speech along with free trade, and Ocasio-Cortez's Green New Dealism, which explicitly uses the totalist regimentation of all aspects of American life during World War II as its model. If I wanted to deal with politics all the time, I'd move to a totalitarian country already. Libertarians are not anarchists but believers in limited government. Certain rights cannot be voted away but we believe that there are areas of life where consensus legitimately rules and that policy should be set by the group rather than the individual. Precisely because politics is a form of force and coercion, though, the parts of our lives governed by consensus should be as small as possible, limited to essential services such as basic infrastructure, law enforcement, safety standards, welfare for the indigent, and some education. The government should treat all people as individuals and all individuals as equal before the law. Over the years, I've become less dogmatic about exactly how little or how much the state should do, preferring instead to talk about libertarian as an adjective or a pre-political sensibility, "an outlook that privileges things such as autonomy, open-mindedness, pluralism, tolerance, innovation, and voluntary cooperation over forced participation in as many parts of life as possible." Where you and I will draw those lines will likely differ depending on a variety of things and, by all means, let's have fierce yet civil debates over the scope and efficacy of specific policies and actions. But let's also avoid the shit show currently on display. Leading the parade of fools is, of course, President Trump, whose recent tweets are not simply racist or in poor taste but deeply un-American. Where exactly does he get off telling people that if they don't like everything about the United States, they should leave? That only one of the four Democratic representatives he was originally attacking was actually born in a foreign country underscores his lack of cognitive functioning and the deep-seated nativism of his mindset. Even if you're born here, he's saying, you're not really American unless you look like him. .... More importantly, Trump's aggressively banal jingoism stands in direct and obvious contradiction to the origins of the United States, both as colonial havens populated by religious dissenters and people seeking economic opportunity, and later as a breakaway republic from an oppressive government. "Our Country is Free, Beautiful and Very Successful. If you hate our Country, or if you are not happy here, you can leave," the president counseled today, as if exit is the only legitimate option when it comes to lobbying for political change. If he read books, I'd suggest that Trump pick up a copy of Albert O. Hirschman's 1970 treatise on "responses to declines in firms, organizations, and states." Exit, Voice, and Loyalty discusses the different ways individuals can effect change. Leaving to go elsewhere—exit—is indeed an option, but so is basically sucking it up and becoming an uncritical organization man (loyalty), or complaining and working to change the system (voice). Trump's basic argument is reductio ad Archie Bunkerism—love it or leave it. It's not worth engaging seriously and indeed, the only reason he isn't being more roundly mocked is that he's wrapped his dumb canard in ugly, divisive language that participates in long traditions of racial and ethnic exclusion. .... By the same token, the Ocasio-Cortez squad offers no hope of escaping politics, either. Instead, it seeks to fully regulate expression in the name of political purposes. One of its members, Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D–Mass.), effectively channels Trump's "you're with us or against us" mindset when she declares, "We don't need any more brown faces that don't want to be a brown voice. We don't need black faces that don't want to be a black voice. We don't need Muslims that don't want to be a Muslim voice. We don't need queers that don't want to be a queer voice." .... The unwillingness of Ocasio-Cortez to acknowledge good-faith disagreements even with her political allies—she's accused Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D–Calif.) of "explicitly singling out newly elected women of color," insinuating that the Democratic Speaker of the House is racist like the president—is a tactic used by Trump and his supporters. This is politics at its absolute worst. It helps explain why the long-term trend of Americans refusing to identify as a Democrat or a Republican proceeds apace. Last month, Gallup found just 27 percent of respondents admitting that they are Democrats and only 26 percent admitting that they are Republicans. Each of those numbers is at or near historic lows. Who can blame us, really? Especially when there is a legitimate alternative to reducing your entire existence to political grudge matches between repellent teams who explicitly tell you to check your brain at the door? "The Libertarian Moment" didn't materialize when Matt Welch and I first coined the phrase in 2008, nor did it materialize when it was being talked about in the pages of The New York Times Magazine, that's for sure. But the idea of living in a world beyond politics, where we can agree to disagree about how to live most of our lives, is looking better and better all the time. Agreed. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Muda69 Posted July 18, 2019 Author Share Posted July 18, 2019 Corey Atchison Freed After Serving 28 Years for a Murder He Didn't Commit: https://reason.com/2019/07/18/corey-atchison-free-nationalism-conservatism-big-tech/ Quote After 28 years in prison, Corey Atchison is finally a free man. Convicted of murder in 1991, the Oklahoma native spent nearly three decades behind bars before a private investigator, Eric Cullen, took up his case. Cullen's work had previously helped to free Atchison's younger brother, Malcolm Scott, who was wrongfully convicted of murder in 1994. In Scott's case, another man who had testified against Scott eventually confessed to the murder before being executed for another crime. In Atchison's, evidence emerged that the authorities had bullied witnesses into offering false testimony. The Washington Post reports that District Judge Sharon Holmes found that his case was marred by a "fundamental miscarriage of justice," according to people who were in the courtroom and local reports…. "Corey was arrested three months before his daughter was born; this is the first time he's been able to have some real contact with her and the same with his 10-year-old grandson," his lawyer Joseph Norwood told The Washington Post. "I'm very proud to have vindicated them and reunited them." One might have expected Atchison to express bitterness. (If I had been wrongly imprisoned for nearly 30 years of my life, I would be plotting some kind of elaborate revenge, Count of Monte Cristo–style.) But Atchison told the press that he felt "blessed" and held no grudges. "Life's too short," he said. Indeed, life is too short. And Atchison's life is 30 years shorter, because overzealous authorities stole that time from him. I can't help but think about this travesty of justice in the context of the current national freakout many on the right are having with respect to "Big Tech," globalization, automation, and the supposed sins of the free market. To grapple with these issues, these conservatives are racing to embrace nationalism and "declare independence from neoliberalism, from libertarianism, from what they call classical liberalism…from the set of ideas that sees the atomic individual, the free and equal individual, as the only thing that matters in politics." That's how author Yoram Hazony explained it during his remarks at the National Conservatism Conference in Washington, D.C., this week. (See my colleague Stephanie Slade's excellent writeup of the event.) Other speakers at the conference explicitly singled out private companies like Google, Amazon, and Facebook as bigger threats to individual liberty than big government. Libertarians, the new nationalists say, are fools for caring more about the latter threat than the former. For the likes of Steven Crowder and Dennis Prager, perhaps the threat of YouTube censorship really is the most serious tyranny they face. Many other Americans have different problems. Neither Google nor Amazon nor any social media company even existed when the government sent Atchison to prison for for 28 years. Who knows if one day Twitter would have shadowbanned Eric Garner, killed by the cops because he was selling loose cigarettes? On Tuesday, the Justice Department announced that none of the officers responsible would face charges. The only person who went to prison in the Garner case was Ramsey Orta—a friend of Garner's who managed to record his final moments. Giving more power to the government is probably not an appealing agenda for the family of Daniel Shaver, whose killer—Officer Philip Mitchell Brailsford—will receive $2,500 a month because he allegedly got PTSD for shooting the unarmed man in a hotel hallway. Nor would it please the Lowthers, who spent $300,000 trying to stop Child Protective Services from abducting their children based on a mendacious lie. Our critics—be they nationalist conservatives or progressive liberals—say we libertarians are monomaniacally focused on reducing the size of government. But that's because we recognize that government has more power than any other institution to kill people, deport their relatives, kidnap their children, and destroy their livelihoods. If you're not at serious risk of suffering one of those calamities, you possess a level of privilege many of your fellow Americans do not. That doesn't mean you are forbidden from complaining about bias or mistreatment at the hands of private organizations such as tech companies and the mainstream media. I'm frequently critical of both myself. But you should be really, really wary of supporting robust federal intervention into these problems, when the likely result will be to give government authorities more resources for oppressing everyone. The next time someone says that there's no bigger threat to Americans' liberties than Big Tech, remember Corey Atchison. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Impartial_Observer Posted July 19, 2019 Share Posted July 19, 2019 Every time I think I can get on board with the Libertarians, some fat guy will start pole dancing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Muda69 Posted July 19, 2019 Author Share Posted July 19, 2019 9 hours ago, Impartial_Observer said: Every time I think I can get on board with the Libertarians, some fat guy will start pole dancing. ? Are saying there are no fat guys who enjoy pole dancing that also identify as conservative or liberal? Are you referring to the the Libertarian political party or leaning toward libertarianism in general? They are two different things. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gonzoron Posted July 19, 2019 Share Posted July 19, 2019 13 minutes ago, Muda69 said: Are you referring to the the Libertarian political party or leaning toward libertarianism in general? They are two different things. Yes, one is capitalized(as in the title of the thread and in the headline of the article referenced) and one isn't. Uni-definition. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Impartial_Observer Posted July 19, 2019 Share Posted July 19, 2019 37 minutes ago, Muda69 said: ? Are saying there are no fat guys who enjoy pole dancing that also identify as conservative or liberal? Are you referring to the the Libertarian political party or leaning toward libertarianism in general? They are two different things. I'm saying the party attracts less than mentally stable people. And they are among the party leaders. I would say I tend to have libertarian views on things. Until they get rid of the bat$hit crazy wing of the party, they'll never be a viable party for the masses. The party needs to focus their energy toward local races and build from the ground up. At this stage of the game, running for national offices is thrown money, manpower (personpower for the woke among us), and energy down a bottomless pit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Muda69 Posted July 19, 2019 Author Share Posted July 19, 2019 1 hour ago, gonzoron said: Yes, one is capitalized(as in the title of the thread and in the headline of the article referenced) and one isn't. Uni-definition. No, you are wrong gonzoron. Please educate yourself. Among libertarian circles the "big L" Libertarian usually refers to the Libertarian political party. "small l" libertarianism usually refers to those individuals who believe in those principles. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Muda69 Posted July 19, 2019 Author Share Posted July 19, 2019 57 minutes ago, Impartial_Observer said: I'm saying the party attracts less than mentally stable people. And they are among the party leaders. I would say I tend to have libertarian views on things. Until they get rid of the bat$hit crazy wing of the party, they'll never be a viable party for the masses. The party needs to focus their energy toward local races and build from the ground up. At this stage of the game, running for national offices is thrown money, manpower (personpower for the woke among us), and energy down a bottomless pit. And every member of the uni-party is mentally stable? Only the shear numbers of the Democrat/Republican parties hide the crackpots which reside therein. I agree with your opinion that the national Libertarian political party needs to focus on local races, and not yet national ones. It is one of the reasons I choose not to be a member of the Libertarian political party. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gonzoron Posted July 19, 2019 Share Posted July 19, 2019 4 minutes ago, Muda69 said: No, you are wrong gonzoron. Please educate yourself. Among libertarian circles the "big L" Libertarian usually refers to the Libertarian political party. "small l" libertarianism usually refers to those individuals who believe in those principles. Are you a member of the Libertarian party? If not, why would you agree to an article stating "You should be a member of the Libertarian Party too"? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Muda69 Posted July 19, 2019 Author Share Posted July 19, 2019 2 minutes ago, gonzoron said: Are you a member of the Libertarian party? If not, why would you agree to an article stating "You should be a member of the Libertarian Party too"? No, I have previously stated that I am not. And the generally accepted rules of article headlines generally capitalize all the key words found in the headline. Thus the capitalization of the word libertarian. I'm sure if the author of said article had been referring to the libertarian political entity he would have included the world "Party" following the word "Libertarian". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gonzoron Posted July 19, 2019 Share Posted July 19, 2019 15 minutes ago, Muda69 said: No, I have previously stated that I am not. And the generally accepted rules of article headlines generally capitalize all the key words found in the headline. Thus the capitalization of the word libertarian. I'm sure if the author of said article had been referring to the libertarian political entity he would have included the world "Party" following the word "Libertarian". Then we can concur that this is a false statement: 26 minutes ago, Muda69 said: No, you are wrong gonzoron. Please educate yourself. Among libertarian circles the "big L" Libertarian usually refers to the Libertarian political party. "small l" libertarianism usually refers to those individuals who believe in those principles. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Muda69 Posted July 19, 2019 Author Share Posted July 19, 2019 11 minutes ago, gonzoron said: Then we can concur that this is a false statement: No, hence the qualifier "usually" in my statement. You really need to learn basic English and the meanings of words, Gonzo. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gonzoron Posted July 19, 2019 Share Posted July 19, 2019 3 minutes ago, Muda69 said: No, hence the qualifier "usually" in my statement. You really need to learn basic English and the meanings of words, Gonzo. Why did you capitalize Libertarian in the title of the thread? You are the one who created it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Muda69 Posted July 19, 2019 Author Share Posted July 19, 2019 1 minute ago, gonzoron said: Why did you capitalize Libertarian in the title of the thread? You are the one who created it. I didn't. I copy/pasted it from the website. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gonzoron Posted July 19, 2019 Share Posted July 19, 2019 5 minutes ago, Muda69 said: I didn't. I copy/pasted it from the website. 2 hours ago, gonzoron said: Sounds like laziness to me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Muda69 Posted July 19, 2019 Author Share Posted July 19, 2019 2 minutes ago, gonzoron said: Yep, if saving time and reducing typos by using the copy/paste feature to enter a forum thread title instead of manually typing out each letter and word is laziness, then I am guilty as charged. How's your IBM Selectric doing gonzo? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gonzoron Posted July 19, 2019 Share Posted July 19, 2019 3 minutes ago, Muda69 said: How's your IBM Selectric doing gonzo? Ir hA RHW LWRRWEA QOEN ODD RHW KWYA, VUR IR'A NOR n iaauw. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Muda69 Posted July 19, 2019 Author Share Posted July 19, 2019 2 minutes ago, gonzoron said: Ir hA RHW LWRRWEA QOEN ODD RHW KWYA, VUR IR'A NOR n iaauw. I thought so. You need not start drinking so early in the morning, Gonzo. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gonzoron Posted July 19, 2019 Share Posted July 19, 2019 1 minute ago, Muda69 said: I thought so. You need not start drinking so early in the morning, Gonzo. Why? I thought you believed in personal freedom? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Muda69 Posted July 19, 2019 Author Share Posted July 19, 2019 1 minute ago, gonzoron said: Why? I thought you believed in personal freedom? I do. Just offering you some personal advice, that's all. I would also advise you not to smoke marijuana, but you definitely have the personal freedom to do so if you wish. Do you think there should be a government law preventing the consumption of alcohol before a certain time of the day? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gonzoron Posted July 19, 2019 Share Posted July 19, 2019 5 minutes ago, Muda69 said: Do you think there should be a government law preventing the consumption of alcohol before a certain time of the day? No, does that make me a libertarian? 5 minutes ago, Muda69 said: I do. Just offering you some personal advice, that's all. I don't like someone advising me what to do either, does that make me a libertarian? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Muda69 Posted July 19, 2019 Author Share Posted July 19, 2019 1 minute ago, gonzoron said: No, does that make me a libertarian? It may be a start. 2 minutes ago, gonzoron said: I don't like someone advising me what to do either, does that make me a libertarian? No, not liking friendly advice makes you an asshole. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gonzoron Posted July 19, 2019 Share Posted July 19, 2019 1 minute ago, Muda69 said: No, not liking friendly advice makes you an asshole. I've been called worse by saner people. Thank you for your support. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Irishman Posted July 19, 2019 Share Posted July 19, 2019 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Muda69 Posted July 19, 2019 Author Share Posted July 19, 2019 Just now, gonzoron said: I've been called worse by saner people. Thank you for your support. Tell me gonzoron, what do you believe makes me less "sane" than other people? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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