Self-described libertarians have been explaining to me on Facebook how my criticism of a Supreme Court ruling that puts the most powerful government official in the world above the law is proof that I'm no longer a libertarian.
I forget who said it (possibly the existential comics guy) but someone said "libertarians are just authoritarians who haven't found a preferred dictator yet"
That’s always been mine: libertarians are just Republicans who like weed. They purport to stand outside of the party system but, when it’s time to put an X in a box, they always seem to find comfort with the Republican candidate.
“my girlfriend shouldn’t have to sit in a car seat” was always the one that stuck with me
some of these people know way too much about age of consent laws
Or they used to be, anyway. I think more and more those guys are just like “wait a minute, I’m rich and white, why am I trying to pretend sociopathy isn’t more fun for people like me?” and go full scale MAGA
As something of a libertarian, these comments make me angry and depressed. A lot of us libertarians just think "It ain't nobody else's business" is an excellent first approximation guideline for government and society. But I can't stop all those other assholes from calling themselves libertarians.
I think part of it is that when formerly powerful groups lose control of the government--men to women, whites to other races, straights to gays--a philosophy of less powerful government starts look pretty good to some former authoritarian types.
Yeah, thanks. At one time, we would have just called ourselves "liberal," but that term has changed meaning over the decades, so some of us call ourselves classical liberals. But that seems so vague. No good answer, really.
I think the problem is most of the "just leave us alone" libertarians are trying to do just that, leaving assholes to bray and scream and cede power to authoritarians.
On one hand, the government stays out of my business, but also there needs to be regulations to keep peoples hands out of my food.
There are very few problems that “the market” can correct. As I often point out, it took the government to end child labor, as we can see by the push today to cripple government so it can be brought back.
It's really just the Two Beliefs:
(1) You can't tell me what to do
(2) I can tell you what to do
"Libertarians" are, in my experience, very often people who say the first part really loud and may not even notice how much they believe the second.
I always find this discourse amusing, confusing, and somewhat depressing.
I've always maintained that libertarianism (at least as pertains to my own "classification") is effectively just more pragmatic anarchism (before anyone jumps down my throat, I recognize there are important distinctions).
I will readily admit mine is colored by the people I’ve encountered in the tech space who describe themselves as libertarians but only ever seem to care about taxes and guns, and hate non-white people who have jobs in their field.
And I will readily admit that there are a lot of such people, and they don't subscribe to a pure ideology of "leave me the fuck alone" that I tend towards.
and even as a left-liberal, I’m ok with that. “I leave you alone, you leave me alone” is so much more palatable than “i get to meddle in your life as much as i want, but you don’t get to touch mine”
Most political scandals of that type are due to HYPOCRISY and secondarily child sexual material. I'm used to the Silicon Valley type where people just warn you not to fuck with girls under the age of consent. Elon Musk vs Matt Gratz.
There's also a pretty wide gulf between a "libertarian" in the sense of "defaults to whatever results in the least government action but is willing to accept some problems need government solutions" and "dude who claims that all government action is literally Stalinism"
Well it’s pragmatic in the sense that it continues to rely on a government that will use force if necessary to keep the way clear for the dude to do whatever he wants
Giving me flashbacks to the character in "The Moon is a Harsh Mistress" who called himself a Rational Anarchist.
As I recall, another character asked him if he meant he was a Randroid, and he said, "no, but I can talk to Randroids".
Not your fault, after nearly a decade of having to watch Donald Trump’s mouth move I’ve already had to think about prolapsed assholes way more than i ever wanted to
I was going to reference that one but since I’m in the mentions of a libertarian who seems to apply his principles in both directions I thought the least I could do is not insult him.
Jello Biafra said that in the 90's. A person asked him "what about Libertarians?" and he responded, "oh please, Libertarians are just Republicans who smoke pot" (to great applause)
Extra funny is my group at the lecture was 3 lefties and one libertarian and he groused about it to our delight
