To be a libertarian requires three things: the courage to stand alone, the intelligence to question the system, and the cluelessness not to notice you are in a party consisting primarily of other frustrated white men.
Modern American libertarians are anarchists without the social conscience. They believe the hammer of freedom can perform all repairs. They question every aspect of a nation’s hierarchy except their own privilege within it. Libertarians lift the banner of their own freedom, but embrace an economic system that reduces much of humankind to serfdom. They repudiate violence, but ignore discrepencies of power that amount to the same thing. They renounce war, but then surrender themselves as cogs to a preditorial economic system which leads us inevitably to it.
I am not a libertarian…but I don’t think you represent the ideas of “Libertarianism” correctly.
“Modern American libertarians are anarchists without the social conscience.” True, you might say this about Ayn Rand, who said that you shouldn’t even ask your neighbor for a glass of water without paying for it…but while that philosophy is interesting to think about in terms of following it to its logical conclusions, in fact, I don’t think most libertarians actually do things like reject the concept of duty towards family – which shows your statement to be hyperbole that does not advance the cause of the discussion. To say that “libertarians” have no “social conscience” is a statement that can be made only by a person with no personal knowledge of the libertarians that I know.
“They believe the hammer of freedom can perform all repairs.” Yeah, they do tend to rely on the free market more than most…but to damn them as always being wrong…is itself arrogant and wrong…often, the free market – if actually allowed to operate without interference but under the oversight of a government that effectively and impartially rules to the benefit of all – can actually address problems in an efficient manner in the long term…not all problems, but a whole lot more problems than the government is able to solve…
“Libertarians lift the banner of their own freedom, but embrace an economic system that reduces much of humankind to serfdom. ” I doubt very much that libertarians embrace the current implementation of capitalism. If you are saying that capitalism itself is inherently wrong, then have the courage to say that, and we can discuss it. But don’t make the mistake of thinking that libertarians like the way that “capitalism” operates currently in the US. You would be saying that libertarians are opposed to the current system, while criticizing them for supporting the current system…inherently contradictory.
“They repudiate violence, but ignore discrepencies [sic] of power that amount to the same thing. They renounce war, but then surrender themselves as cogs to a preditorial [sic] economic system which leads us inevitably to it” Hello? What libertarians are you listening to? Even you yourself have pointed out how people like Ron Paul (who strikes me as sometime looney tunes) is quite opposed to the military adventures of the US…it makes no sense to me to criticize libertarians for something that they are not guilty of.
As I said, I am not a libertarian…but you seem to be isolating particular instances of what you call “libertarian” so that you can uninformatively criticize them, rather than paint a true picture of an issue with an accurate representation of each side…please do not be the Rush Limbaugh of whatever you represent by pandering to your base…this does the truth no good…
Bill
Bill,
I appreciate your taking the time to make this rebuttal. I hope people take the time to read it.
Of course, we disagree, but I appreciate your reasoned arguments. I believe if libertarians do not agree with preditorial corporate capitalism, they would be wise not to break its governmental leash before they have have tamed the monster. I didn’t base the article on Ayn Rand but on their national platform.
Jim