- Joined
- Aug 2, 2009
- Messages
- 4,496
- Reaction score
- 1,878
- Location
- DC
- Gender
- Male
- Political Leaning
- Libertarian
They are much more absolute than any comparable principle for liberals or conservatives. I tried to think of something analogous for liberals/conservatives...but the closest analogy I could come up with was "Government can help build a good society by helping the poor" for liberals, and "Government can help build a good society by helping families" for conservatives.
Neither of those are as comprehensive or universal as the things I listed for libertarians, and on any given issue I think you'd find a lot of liberals/conservatives who thought those respective beliefs did not apply. I don't think the same is true of libertarians.
That's more ordinary partisanship than ideological dogma. I was referring more to principles that would govern a person's policy opinions.
Careful, remember that true libertarianism was a left-wing anarchist movement that has now become libertarian socialism and these people we call 'libertarians' are merely right-wingers that abandon any concept of freedom for capitalism as a an authority. This is why I find right-wing 'libertarianism' to be a bit incoherent due to their lack of a critique of capitalism with respect to individual liberty. A large assumption is made early on in ideological development that compromises the integrity of 'libertarianism'.
We see largely free market capitalism as the best tool for freedom economically. That isn't the issue here though
We see largely free market capitalism as the best tool for freedom economically. That isn't the issue here though
In saying "we" think rather than "I" think, you tend to undermine any argument you might offer refuting the notion that you are dogmatic.
You are admitting you are indulging in a process groupthink rather than anything self-generated. .
I find it interesting how you launch into the de rigueur catch phrases about "individual freedom and responsibiliy" and "statist policies" in order to assault another poster's supposed lack of substance.
Good old Lew Rockwell.com.
. You people know me enough after all these years. What the hell am I?
Dumb is for the ignorant and this thread already has it representation.
As long as you need gasoline and oil based products there is no leaving the Middle East. Arabs have fought no less than 16 open wars or conflicts over the last forty years. These wars have effected oil production off and on.
What exactly do you think a nuclear Iran will do to Sunni Arab oil production? The trbes of Iraq have all but refused to allow the oil to flow because they were are too busy hating each other to care about NEUROSPORT's gasoline prices in the States. And what about external? The entire Cold War had a huge focus on the Middle East. The Soviets started the Cold War early by forcing America and Britian to insist on its leaving Iran and Turkey immediately after WWII. By the time Korea kicked off, the Soviets were building powerful military and had great influence in the oil rich Middle East with the Suez Canal being a center focus of control.
And before this we have the Nazis. Field-Marshall Rundstedt of Germany acknowledged that one of the factors leading to Germany's defeat was its own deficiency in oil, especially in the form of gasoline. The Allied forces used 7 billion barrels during WWII. "6" billion came from the U.S.
So if you think just leaving the Middle East will keep Americans safe and make everybody happy and the madness will simply stop then you may want to actually think before you type. One world war and a nuclear Cold War centered around oil resources. It would be a bit harder for NEUROSPORT to get his precious gasoline with our enemies controlling it wouldn't he?
Most of the libertarians I encounter strike me in much the same way as do religious fundamentalists in that they are entirely dogmatic. Of course, many of the socialist/communists strike me in much the same way, but with all of them, their politics is pretty much just an act of selecting a ready made ideology and then treating it as inviolate.
Folks like that never really question much of anyting since they are such idealogues, and since they do not question they also do not learn. Everything just gets filtered through the political template they have chosen for themself.
libertarians reject media brainwashing. liberals and conservatives alike embrace it.
LIBERTARIANS:
- The government can't do anything right.
- The free market is always efficient.
- It is fundamentally immoral to tax people to pay for government spending.
- An originalist interpretation of the Constitution is the only legitimate one.
- The government has no business telling people what to do, as long as they aren't harming others.
LIBERALS:
- ?
CONSERVATIVES:
- ?
I can't think of ANY ideological dogmas that would apply to the vast majority of liberals or conservatives
Yeah. Instead of critical thinking, it's usually the process of litmus tests.
"How should a libertarian react", instaed of "Does this make sense, intuitive or otherwise?".
GMO foods overall are not particularly harmful. The main problem with GMOs is the threat to biodiversity should they be introduced into the wild. GMOs are often modified such that they are able to better grow in a climate, grow faster, grow larger, etc. This results in a competition for resources that may ultimately result in the GMO out-competing the wild-type and other plants/animals. Should an epidemic occur that selectively affects a GMO food, it could be like potatoes in Ireland. In a world of GMOs, maintaining biodiversity is important.
Furthermore, it is the free-market that limits choice between unaltered or selectively breed foods and GMOs because of how cheap GMOs are to produce. If anything, the FDA makes unaltered and selectively breed foods more competitive by limiting the GMOs.
P.S. This may be a late post but it relates to something said earlier in the thread.
They are much more absolute than any comparable principle for liberals or conservatives. I tried to think of something analogous for liberals/conservatives...but the closest analogy I could come up with was "Government can help build a good society by helping the poor" for liberals, and "Government can help build a good society by helping families" for conservatives.
wrong. GMOs are specifically engineered in a way that makes it impossible for them to reproduce. you have to keep buying the new seed all the time. there is little chance that they will out-compete real food in the wild since they can't even exist outside a farm.
libertarians are above this crap. we know the truth. we have seen the light. we can't be bothered to listen to your ****ing arguments because we heard them all for decades and we know exactly what the purpose of those arguments and the results are.
You just got owned because you said that some documentary you watched claimed that GM foods were unhealthy, and you believed it without checking. Who is brainwashed by the media here?
I recommend you lay off the drugs and learn to think for yourself. :2wave:
Do you realize that you sound exactly like a religious fundamentalist?
there is one huge difference. christian fundamentalists are brought up as such from early childhood. they are brainwashed since before their brain is even developed.
NEUROSPORT said:i accepted libertarianism when i was already a college graduate after already having been exposed to other ideologies including communism ( i grew up in the soviet union ). it wasn't forced on me by parents or teachers. i expended a considerable amount of energy to FIND IT for myself.
NEUROSPORT said:i kept rejecting the ideologies that were being pushed on me because they didn't fit with either evidence or logic. i kept looking for something that was true and with Libertarianism i finally found it.
there is one huge difference. christian fundamentalists are brought up as such from early childhood. they are brainwashed since before their brain is even developed.
i accepted libertarianism when i was already a college graduate after already having been exposed to other ideologies including communism ( i grew up in the soviet union ). it wasn't forced on me by parents or teachers. i expended a considerable amount of energy to FIND IT for myself.
i kept rejecting the ideologies that were being pushed on me because they didn't fit with either evidence or logic. i kept looking for something that was true and with Libertarianism i finally found it.
They don't want to pay any taxes or want the govt to spend any money, but they sure as hell:
-Send their kids to public school
Is that what your documentaries told you? Good thing you avoided being brainwashed by the media. :lol:
We use cookies and similar technologies for the following purposes:
Do you accept cookies and these technologies?
We use cookies and similar technologies for the following purposes:
Do you accept cookies and these technologies?