Current Events > Does libertarianism make any sense?

(+) Yeah! (+)

on the contrary, it's the only sensible philosophy

shut the fuck up

shut the fuck up

The bullet lodged in a U.S.P.S. mailbox less than a foot from his head. I shot the mailbox again, on purpose.

I was shooting heroin and reading The Fountainhead in the front seat of my privately owned police cruiser when a call came in. I put a quarter in the radio to activate it. It was the chief.
Bad news, detective. We got a situation.
What? Is the mayor trying to ban trans fats again?
Worse. Somebody just stole four hundred and forty-seven million dollars worth of bitcoins.
The heroin needle practically fell out of my arm. What kind of monster would do something like that? Bitcoins are the ultimate currency: virtual, anonymous, stateless. They represent true economic freedom, not subject to arbitrary manipulation by any government. Do we have any leads?
Not yet. But mark my words: were going to figure out who did this and were going to take them down provided someone pays us a fair market rate to do so.
Easy, chief, I said. Any rate the market offers is, by definition, fair.
He laughed. Thats why youre the best I got, Lisowski. Now you get out there and find those bitcoins.
Dont worry, I said. Im on it.
I put a quarter in the siren. Ten minutes later, I was on the scene. It was a normal office building, strangled on all sides by public sidewalks. I hopped over them and went inside.
Home Depot Presents the Police! I said, flashing my badge and my gun and a small picture of Ron Paul. Nobody move unless you want to! They didnt.
Now, which one of you punks is going to pay me to investigate this crime? No one spoke up.
Come on, I said. Dont you all understand that the protection of private property is the foundation of all personal liberty?
It didnt seem like they did.
Seriously, guys. Without a strong economic motivator, Im just going to stand here and not solve this case. Cash is fine, but I prefer being paid in gold bullion or autographed Penn Jillette posters.
Nothing. These people were stonewalling me. It almost seemed like they didnt care that a fortune in computer money invented to buy drugs was missing.
I figured I could wait them out. I lit several cigarettes indoors. A pregnant lady coughed, and I told her that secondhand smoke is a myth. Just then, a man in glasses made a break for it.
Subway Eat Fresh and Freeze, Scumbag! I yelled.
Too late. He was already out the front door. I went after him.
Stop right there! I yelled as I ran. He was faster than me because I always try to avoid stepping on public sidewalks. Our country needs a private-sidewalk voucher system, but, thanks to the incestuous interplay between our corrupt federal government and the public-sidewalk lobby, it will never happen.
I was losing him. Listen, Ill pay you to stop! I yelled. What would you consider an appropriate price point for stopping? Ill offer you a thirteenth of an ounce of gold and a gently worn Bob Barr 08 extra-large long-sleeved mens T-shirt!
He turned. In his hand was a revolver that the Constitution said he had every right to own. He fired at me and missed. I pulled my own gun, put a quarter in it, and fired back. The bullet lodged in a U.S.P.S. mailbox less than a foot from his head. I shot the mailbox again, on purpose.
All right, all right! the man yelled, throwing down his weapon. I give up, cop! I confess: I took the bitcoins.
Whyd you do it? I asked, as I slapped a pair of Oikos Greek Yogurt Presents Handcuffs on the guy.
Because I was afraid.
Afraid?
Afraid of an economic future free from the pernicious meddling of central bankers, he said. Im a central banker.
I wanted to coldcock the guy. Years ago, a central banker killed my partner. Instead, I shook my head.
Let this be a message to all your central-banker friends out on the street, I said. No matter how many bitcoins you steal, youll never take away the dream of an open society based on the principles of personal and economic freedom.
He nodded, because he knew I was right. Then he swiped his credit card to pay me for arresting him.

Note that the key word here is "total"; there is definitely room to consider some values from it, especially on the social side.

I'll challenge you to name which social values are worth considering from the ideology of, "I have no moral obligation to feed my infant because they're demanding of my property and body without offering equitable exchange."

I assume they mean the idea of "the government has no right to interfere with your private life" that libertarians love to say without giving a second thought to the fact that they're caucusing with and voting for Republicans who explicitly want the government to interfere with citizens' private lives. Basically libertarians think economics are more important than people. Libertarians will actively vote against their social ideals if that vote furthers their economic ideals because they think a deregulated economy will be more "fair" somehow and lead to more freedom. It's one of those ideas that works in a vacuum or if you aren't putting any thought behind the people who are saying it kind of like when Republicans campaign on the idea of reducing "wasteful spending" from the government but then continuously increase the military's budget.

But even without the hypocrisy from human actors, the libertarian ideology makes very little sense overall as it gives no quarter to the concept of a shared collective (which is what our society is at its core) and ignores the human condition which is a hugely important facet of everyone's lives.

They dont want an unregulated economy because they think itll be more fair. They want that because they think theyll be on top in such an arrangement. At the end of the day, libertarians are just conservatives and conservatives lie about everything.

You're definitely not wrong, but I think that's a more deep-rooted "I'm part of the in-group" mentality that a lot of libertarians wield subconsciously. I think they rationalize the ideology to themselves overall by saying a fully libertarian economy would be "more fair" to everyone (even if that wouldn't be the case) so that they don't have to face the idea that they may not actually be part of the in-group that ends up with the power in such a scenario.

Which suggests that theyre just as comfortable lying to themselves as they are with lying to us normies.

IIRC, some town was dumb enough to try it, and got overrun by bears.

IIRC, some town was dumb enough to try it, and got overrun by bears.

One of the original masterminds of the plan, a certain Larry Pendarvis, had written of his intention to create a space honoring the freedom to traffic organs, the right to hold duels, and the God-given, underappreciated right to organize so-called bum fights. He had also bemoaned the persecution of the victimless crime that is consensual cannibalism. (Logic is a strange thing, observes Hongoltz-Hetling.)

Some parts such as criticism of bad regulation and processes, and the danger of state power.
But I disagree with the ideology on the whole

But those aren't libertarian-specific viewpoints. Those are also the viewpoints of any pro-regulation and anti-authoritarian people. No pro-regulation ideologies would be purposely advocating for and desiring bad regulation.

No pro-regulation ideologies would be purposely advocating for and desiring bad regulation.

I agree that they aren't specifically libertarian viewpoints, but I do agree with that level of criticism that libertarians bring up. It's a specific part of their ideology that makes sense and can be applied positively to other ideologies.

Many do in fact advocate for bad regulation because, the issue is they don't see it as bad regulation. Example, regulations in housing and zoning requirements. Many support bad zoning and housing regulations because they think it's good...but they're wrong and the regulations are actually quite harmful

They stand for one thing only, removing age of consent laws.