"We need some controls. Imagine a classroom of 50 5 year olds with no one in charge. "
It amazes me how both Libertarians and Anarchists can say people won't be assholes if we remove the laws, while at the same time wanting to get rid of the laws so they can be assholes.
@Ro
You had a typo :)
You meant to say Portugal decriminalized.
The problem with libertarianism again is that we live in a world of 8bn people that are interconnected. We need governments. We need some controls. Imagine a classroom of 50 5 year olds with no one in charge. That is what libertarians think the world should be like.
If you ask any person if they want regulations, chances are they will say no. Then you describe life without regulations and then suddenly they like them. The argument is always where the line is. That is the balancing act.
ro-ri yes I did read the whole post.
It was your use of North Korea and their liberty to have access to legal Marijuana and Herion but their risk of death to do so as a Libertarian country that I found hilariously delusional.
sorry you don't really comprehend what is being said..or you just want to argue about it....first..there are no Libertarian countries...reread it with that knowledge
It seems from all these answers that it's obviously no way to run a country...
So why would I vote for a Libertarian candidate other than a protest vote?
ro-ri yes I did read the whole post.
It was your use of North Korea and their liberty to have access to legal Marijuana and Herion but their risk of death to do so as a Libertarian country that I found hilariously delusional.
Libertarianism and Anarchism both start with the idea that given absolute freedom, people will voluntarily not be assholes. (The primary difference being that Libertarians would eliminate all laws except person property rights, and Anarchists would start by eliminating personal property rights.)
The flaw is that we are all, in fact, assholes, at least once a day, and most of us far more than once. Bigger flaw, even if 99% of the people chose to not be assholes 99% of the time, the 1%s would still fuck it up for everyone.
In fact, most people that are Libertarian want that philosophical ideal so that they CAN be assholes without the government trying to force them to do what is best for society.
There is no one who is a classic libertarian, not even Ayn Rand, who used Medicare when she got sick with cancer.
Libertarianism is a bunch of half baked ideas concocted in the fevered mind of a mentally deranged individual.
And that statement is an insult to half baked ideas everywhere...
didn't read the entire post did you?
ro-ri ... you didn't seriously just use North Korea as a libertarian model did you?
Libertarianism is a philosophy centered on liberty. People that believe in these philosophies are known as libertarians, and libertarians believe in political freedom and freedom of choice. Libertarians believe that a person should be able to use their own judgement when it comes to the choices in their own life. In other words, a person would be able to make their own choices without interference by the government.
Throughout the world, some nations show signs of libertarianism. For example, in many nations around the world, marijuana has been legalized or at least decriminalized. However, there are no true libertarian countries. The nations that have legalized marijuana, for example, may have very high taxes or laws that restrict other activities, such as prostitution.
Since there are no true libertarian countries, let’s explore the countries around the world that provide the most freedom to their residents.
One such nation is England. After leaving the European Union, the nation no longer has a government that is higher than its own federal government. England no longer has to pay taxes and tariffs imposed by the EU, but there are other regulations, such as drugs being illegal.
There are several nations that do not impose income taxes on its citizens. This includes Andorra, which has no income tax for individuals or companies, and Monaco, which is known as a “tax haven” for its lack of income tax.
If you live in a country like the United States, prostitution is illegal. However, it is fully legal in some nations. In Germany, for example, brothels are regulated by the government, must obtain licenses, and pay taxes. The Netherlands also has legal prostitution and has become known for its red-light district.
In some nations, drugs are also legal or decriminalized. In Portugal, possessing any drug for personal use has been criminalized. Portugal also has government-funded therapy programs to help drug addicts. In North Korea, marijuana and opium are not considered drugs. However, use of other drugs could result in major penalties, including death.
"examine the actual principles."
If you really want to understand, look at the effects, not the philosophical, hypothetical principles.
Libertarian philosophy says I should be able to take a shit wherever I want.... then we all start dying of cholera, E.Coli, typhoid fever, salmonella... hmmm.... maybe some socialism isn't such a bad thing.
I was Libertarian for a couple weeks, until I read the economic history of the 19th century, when we basically had Libertsrian economic policy in effect.
We spent 48 years of the 100 in some state if economic decline or collapse, with the end result being 90% of the nation's wealth in the hand of 6 men, tiny middle class, and the vast majority living on the verge of starvation.
When we abandoned Libertarianism in favor of a controlled money supply, we eliminated the wild swings in the economy and went from ecobomic decline being 48% to about 10%.
As we have moved back toward Libertarian econmic policy of low taxes on the rich and free onternational trade, the econmic swings are returning. Fortunately, once the shit really hits the fan, we all suddenly become Keynesians!
Because libertarian is a political party, not a form of government. We live in a representative republic, with several political parties, most of which are inactive or irrelevant. Libertarians have a few outspoken radicals, the same as republicans and democrats, it’s all a matter of perspective.
Look into it, you may be surprised that you share common thoughts with the politics. Ignore the radical loudmouths and examine the actual principles.
If a Libertarian form of government actually works...
How is it that not a single country in the world in the early twenty-first century is organized along libertarian lines?
Libertarian Jo Jorgensen jo20 dot com if you want to look her up to see her issues. If you want .
Or an asshole.
Libertarianism is a very attractive ideology if you are 4 years old
Look up more of their beliefs.
Everyone lines up with some of their beliefs. Just like everyone lines up with some of the republican, democrat or green beliefs. You are correct they are a little looney.
In essence, the libertarians are, "I got mine, now I don't care if you get your's crowd." I like giving libertarians an argument that makes their head explode because it contradicts their belief system. You and I are neighbors. We live along the side of a mountain. You live below me. Running through our property from the top of the mountain down is freshwater. This is your source of freshwater as well as mine. I decide that I am going to pull the water from the top of my property into my property. I use it, I do stuff with it. At the end of my property, about 5' from our property line, I dump all my sewage and garbage into the water. The libertarians believe that you can do with what you have because it is yours. I ask what they would do then. They immediately come up with . . . wait for it . . . governmental solutions, aka regulations that stop me from dumping in my river. That is no longer libertarian concepts.
Rand Paul is named after Ayn Rand. She was a Russian who wrote a book called Atlas Shrugged. That is pretty much the bible for libertarians. Ron Paul, Rand's dad would cite that book often. I do like that she rejected faith and religion. I do find it funny that a lot of conservatives cherry-pick some of her beliefs. She was seriously against that. She was for abortions. She was against religion and politics mixing. I think she went too far in being an individual. We have a planet of ~8bn people. We are all on this rock together, not separately. What one person does can destroy us all. We have to work together.
I realize that this will raise a lot of feathers here. Libertarianism is like communism. On paper, in a world in a vacuum, it's not a bad idea. In reality, it has lots of issues.
Depends on how you define a Libertarian...
Some libertarians are present within the Libertarian, Republican (see Libertarian Republicans) and Democratic (see Libertarian Democrats) parties while others are independent. Through twenty polls on this topic spanning thirteen years, Gallup found that voters who identify as libertarians ranged from 17–23% of the American electorate. However, a 2014 Pew Poll found that 23% of Americans who identify as libertarians have little understanding of libertarianism.
Wikipedia
And they don't care if I smoke weed (allegedly)
Never read much about them, only thing I really know about them is their usually batshit crazy and I think the last guy they had stripped naked at the convention.
Just did a quick Google search and I line up with them politically it seems. I don't give a shit about what you do behind closed doors, I don't care if gays marry, I don't want taxes, I think everyone should have guns if they want them. Anyone here ?
