Advice to the Libertarian Party from a Conservative

[T2T III]

From the Libertarian Web site:

The Libertarian Party is committed to America's heritage of freedom:
* individual liberty and personal responsibility
* a free-market economy of abundance and prosperity
* a foreign policy of non-intervention, peace, and free trade.

As a rebuttal, individuals can't take responsibility and don't want to take responsibility for themselves. You have to think and act for them. Keep the free market economy aproach, but resolve on minimizing the trade deficit. Finally, some intervention might be necessary - never say never.





* This thread was created as a response to the other threads which have tried to provide advice to the other parties in an effort to tell them what they were doing wrong. I felt that the Libertarians were being left out.

 

[Vic]

Heh. They'll take that responsibility when they have no choice but to.
Libertarians believe that people should be free, including that able-bodied persons should be free to starve if they won't work for themselves. Better for the gene pool anyway, which seems to be clouding up.

The trade deficit will fix itself after a freer business environment encourages manufacturing to return.

Thanks for thinking of us!


Now my advice to the Republicans would be that big government, the largest socialized healthcare plan in US history (Medicare Reform Act 2003), big spending, and big deficits doesn't sound very conservative to me. But hey, you're gonna make sure by law that everybody goes to church on Sunday, right?

 

[gutharius]

Originally posted by: Tiles2Tech
From the Libertarian Web site:

The Libertarian Party is committed to America's heritage of freedom:
* individual liberty and personal responsibility
* a free-market economy of abundance and prosperity
* a foreign policy of non-intervention, peace, and free trade.

As a rebuttal, individuals can't take responsibility and don't want to take responsibility for themselves. You have to think and act for them. Keep the free market economy aproach, but resolve on minimizing the trade deficit. Finally, some intervention might be necessary - never say never.





* This thread was created as a response to the other threads which have tried to provide advice to the other parties in an effort to tell them what they were doing wrong. I felt that the Libertarians were being left out.

And some people wonder why they are called arrogant.

 

[T2T III]

Originally posted by: gutharius

Originally posted by: Tiles2Tech
From the Libertarian Web site:

The Libertarian Party is committed to America's heritage of freedom:
* individual liberty and personal responsibility
* a free-market economy of abundance and prosperity
* a foreign policy of non-intervention, peace, and free trade.

As a rebuttal, individuals can't take responsibility and don't want to take responsibility for themselves. You have to think and act for them. Keep the free market economy aproach, but resolve on minimizing the trade deficit. Finally, some intervention might be necessary - never say never.





* This thread was created as a response to the other threads which have tried to provide advice to the other parties in an effort to tell them what they were doing wrong. I felt that the Libertarians were being left out.

And some people wonder why they are called arrogant.

And, I love you too.

 

[imported_Aelius]

Originally posted by: Tiles2Tech
From the Libertarian Web site:

The Libertarian Party is committed to America's heritage of freedom:
* individual liberty and personal responsibility
* a free-market economy of abundance and prosperity
* a foreign policy of non-intervention, peace, and free trade.

As a rebuttal, individuals can't take responsibility and don't want to take responsibility for themselves. You have to think and act for them. Keep the free market economy aproach, but resolve on minimizing the trade deficit. Finally, some intervention might be necessary - never say never.





* This thread was created as a response to the other threads which have tried to provide advice to the other parties in an effort to tell them what they were doing wrong. I felt that the Libertarians were being left out.

LP doesn't say that they would not intervene. You simply generalize and over simplify because it's easier to comprehend.

LP is rather adamant about protecting allies just as well as Americans.

 

[Dissipate]

I have sympathy for the LP. The problem is that people in the LP have committed the same error that classical liberalism has been making for at least a century: it believes that there can be such thing as a limited government.

 

[imported_Aelius]

Originally posted by: Dissipate
I have sympathy for the LP. The problem is that people in the LP have committed the same error that classical liberalism has been making for at least a century: it believes that there can be such thing as a limited government.

If it's error to think logically and to the benefit of the whole country as opposed to the benefit of a very small minority of special interest groups, big business and the political elite class then that sums up the entire problem with the way Americans in general think.

I'll agree that what you say is what is the case but the whole point being is that it shouldn't have to be.

 

[Hayabusa Rider]

Originally posted by: Dissipate
I have sympathy for the LP. The problem is that people in the LP have committed the same error that classical liberalism has been making for at least a century: it believes that there can be such thing as a limited government.

If I understand you, you are making the mistake that there can be no government. Not in the real world.

 

[Dissipate]

Originally posted by: WinstonSmith

Originally posted by: Dissipate
I have sympathy for the LP. The problem is that people in the LP have committed the same error that classical liberalism has been making for at least a century: it believes that there can be such thing as a limited government.

If I understand you, you are making the mistake that there can be no government. Not in the real world.

Yes, in the real world.

 

[b0mbrman]

Only in the abscence of public goods like roads, a military, and pollution reform

 

[Dissipate]

Originally posted by: b0mbrman
Only in the abscence of public goods like roads, a military, and pollution reform

"Public goods" are a myth, propagated by mainstream economists. These are the same economists who told us that the Hurricanes in Florida were actually good for the economy.

 

[cKGunslinger]

Originally posted by: Tiles2Tech
From the Libertarian Web site:

The Libertarian Party is committed to America's heritage of freedom:
* individual liberty and personal responsibility
* a free-market economy of abundance and prosperity
* a foreign policy of non-intervention, peace, and free trade.

As a rebuttal, individuals can't take responsibility and don't want to take responsibility for themselves. You have to think and act for them. Keep the free market economy aproach, but resolve on minimizing the trade deficit. Finally, some intervention might be necessary - never say never.

As a Libertarian, a say "tough sh1t" to those who don't want to take personal responsibility. Yes, I know that *some* government intervention and regulation is necessary, and even more may be necessary in the near-future, but I believe that it should all be part of a concerted effort to *reduce* governmental influence in the long-term. Our government was never intended to "rule" the citizens, but was rather intended as a tool by which citizens could use to help govern themselves. We've rapidly gotten away from that notion and that, IMO, is the cause of 90%+ of our country's problems.

 

[Vic]

Originally posted by: b0mbrman
Only in the abscence of public goods like roads, a military, and pollution reform

I think too many people misunderstand the LP. We're not talking about doing away with government or taking the teeth out of it. Simply changing the way government works so that it is smaller, more efficient, more "of and for the people", and less corrupt.
Public roads and schools would still exist, but would be funded on the local and state level only.
The military would still exist, but would be focused more on the defense of the nation rather than fighting other nations' wars. Large volunteer militias of the common people would be encouraged and trained for the common defense.
Pollution would be strictly regulated -- while the LP's believe that a citizen has every right to harm himself and his property if he so chooses, he has absolutely no right to harm another's property. Ever heard of the LP solution for water pollution? Force polluters to put their inlet downstream from their outlet, so they would have to suck in their own filth. There would be no Superfund with the LP, polluters would be forced to pay for their own mess.

The LP is a shift in thinking. Instead of the current belief that the common good is more important than the individual, the LP believes that preserving the rights and freedoms of every single individual, without favor or exception, will always benefit the common good.