Political Theory

Re: The Comedy of Libertarian Hypocrisy

Marko — Mon, 02 Jul 2012 18:36:59 GMT

However he touches on an important libertarians could well do practicing more of what they preach.

What does that even mean? Libertarianism is the last ideology that is going to tell you what to do with your life. Libertarians don't preach except about strictly political things and then only to push for a situation where politics is abolished.

The HuffPuff article doesn't touch on any important point. Libertarians do not have the tinniest need to blush when calling an ambulance etc. Calling or not-calling the ambulance is completly irrelevant as to ones libertarian credentials. Doing either makes you neither more, nor less libertarian. The piece is a complete shot in the dark.

Re: The Comedy of Libertarian Hypocrisy

John James — Mon, 02 Jul 2012 18:35:38 GMT

Torsten:
Why is the Huffington post not writing about this?

...because such reality conflicts with their worldview?

Re: The Comedy of Libertarian Hypocrisy

Torsten — Mon, 02 Jul 2012 18:33:40 GMT

I can see we got some people her that are working in the right direction.
Why is the Huffington post not writing about this?

Anyway I found a hint on public spending; It's in German but "Staatsquote" should be the equivalent term:
http://de.statista.com/statistik/daten/studie/158267/umfrage/staatsquote-in-den-usa/

Re: The Comedy of Libertarian Hypocrisy

John James — Mon, 02 Jul 2012 18:12:02 GMT

Torsten:
seasteading,

Where did you think the name came from?

secession

In what capacity?

moving to a place with less restrictions and taxes

Yeah, never heard of anyone doing that.

home-schooling

Because that's such a dwindling concept.

alternative currencies

...because it's so easy to pay taxes in alternative currencies.

Just doing the things that lead to more liberty.

Getting thrown in a cage for attempting to transact in gold does not lead to more liberty. In fact, I would argue, getting thrown in a cage is kind of the opposite of "more liberty".

Re: The Comedy of Libertarian Hypocrisy

Autolykos — Mon, 02 Jul 2012 18:01:43 GMT

I moved to a state that has no state income tax. I plan on homeschooling my kids, if I ever have any. Does that help?

The public-spending percentage in the US is too high right now. :P

Re: The Comedy of Libertarian Hypocrisy

Torsten — Mon, 02 Jul 2012 17:49:30 GMT

I'd have a couple of things in mind. This could be seasteading, secession, moving to a place with less restrictions and taxes, home-schooling, alternative currencies, etc.

Just doing the things that lead to more liberty. Otherwise this would all just remain an academic exercise.

What is the public spending percentage in the US right now, by the way.

Re: The Comedy of Libertarian Hypocrisy

Autolykos — Mon, 02 Jul 2012 17:36:28 GMT

What real-life decisions do you have in mind, Torsten?

Re: The Comedy of Libertarian Hypocrisy

Torsten — Mon, 02 Jul 2012 17:26:14 GMT

Isn't the state university hospital not just another service provider? Perhaps not one you like, but he certainly is. However he touches on an important point and that is that libertarians could well do practicing more of what they preach. Making real life decisions in favor of Liberty and turning their back away from oversubsidized institutions.

Re: The Comedy of Libertarian Hypocrisy

John James — Mon, 02 Jul 2012 16:01:03 GMT

...As if we've never heard this one before.

You could easily play the same game with statists. Call out their hypocrisy of wanting State control of (whatever they want state control of...e.g. health care) and then how they claim the State has no business in (whatever they think the State has no business in...e.g. gay marriage). If the state has business in one aspect, why not the rest? Is that not the same blanket they're saddling libertarians with?

And then, this imaginary line they draw between what is justified aggression and what is oppression...it's location is necessarily completely arbitrary. How do they justify not only the aggression itself, but also where they draw that line?

They can't. It's basically just whatever they feel. This is why they constantly have to use ambiguious fuzzy words like "reasonable amount", “bad behavior”, "excessive wealth", “lack of character”, “should have known better", "undue prosperity", and the insufferable "fair share", just to name a few.

Re: The Comedy of Libertarian Hypocrisy

Autolykos — Mon, 02 Jul 2012 14:06:58 GMT

Welcome to the forum!

By that article's reasoning, if you ever drive on government roads, eat in a restaurant, stay at a hotel, or any other number of things that are somehow regulated by the government, you're not a "true libertarian". The thing is, being a libertarian isn't the same as being entirely self-reliant - at least not in my opinion. So the "Mr. Self-Reliant" of the article is a glaring strawman.

Re: The Comedy of Libertarian Hypocrisy

Marko — Mon, 02 Jul 2012 10:33:10 GMT

Don't waste your breath on regime media.

The Comedy of Libertarian Hypocrisy

Willy Truth — Mon, 02 Jul 2012 09:00:11 GMT

O/T: I've been watching a good amount of stand up comedy via the internet lately and I was scouring the web for someone besides Joe Rogan to give my funny bone a good tickle with a libertarian sensibility. Anyone have any leads?

Also, more relevantly to this thread, while googling for "libertarian comedy", I found the following article that espouses some of the most misguided views of libertarianism that I have seen in a good while--did you know that you're a hypocrite? I know it's petty and, well, impossible to dissect every stupid article that one discovers in the dark shadows of the interweb, but this one got under my skin because I felt it to be a personal assault that I was barraged by while innocently searching for intelligent dick jokes.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dan-agin/the-comedy-of-libertarian_b_967711.html

Also, I'm new to the forums and I think that this community has created an amazing compendium of all flavors of reason--keep up the good work.