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640 Comments
- 45superman, on 02/12/2009, -13/+340Wow--very well stated.
- UnFriendlyFire, on 02/12/2009, -39/+247That's why I vote Libertarian.
- momzilla54, on 02/12/2009, -4/+205Great read. "We wish our preferred freedoms to be respected, while applauding governmental crackdowns upon those freedoms we dislike or are indifferent to." This charge could be levied at almost every group that is fighting for a particular "right." Very thought provoking.
- BillE3, on 02/12/2009, -15/+194Diversity is the modern day tool to keep everyone divided, antagonistic and separate. It is making us much, much easier to conquer. One group at a time, just like in the article. Just go to a university campus and see how diversity is used to deny some rights and promote others. There is no real unity on the campuses. It is the training ground for the next generation.
- NikoKun, on 02/13/2009, -17/+174"When the Nazis came for the communists, I remained silent; I was not a communist.
When they locked up the social democrats, I remained silent; I was not a social democrat.
When they came for the trade unionists, I did not speak out; I was not a trade unionist.
When they came for the Jews, I remained silent; I was not a Jew.
When they came for me, there was no one left to speak out." - Balath, on 02/13/2009, -2/+157Okay, I'm in. I'm not gay or lesbian, I don't smoke or own a gun. I'm a college student that has yet to make any real money so I haven't had to pay taxes.
But I want other people to be able to do what they want, so long as it doesn't hurt me. - emmettgolf, on 02/13/2009, -8/+149In a free country, you get to do whatever you want to as long as you don't hurt anyone or their property. It's a simple concept.
- JJDiggle, on 02/13/2009, -16/+111By libertarian, I hope you mean the principle, and not the party, which has nothing to do with libertarianism.
- opinionsstink, on 02/12/2009, -13/+101Collectivism under the guise of diversity is ruining modern society (not just here, but everywhere).
Ludwig von Mises from "The Fallacy of Collectivism"
"On the other hand the application of the basic ideas of collectivism cannot result in anything but social disintegration and the perpetuation of armed conflict. It is true that every variety of collectivism promises eternal peace starting with the day of its own decisive victory and the final overthrow and extermination of all other ideologies and their supporters. ... As soon as a faction has succeeded in winning the support of the majority of citizens and thereby attained control of the government machine, it is free to deny to the minority all those democratic rights by means of which it itself has previously carried on its own struggle for supremacy." - JJDiggle, on 02/13/2009, -5/+87That's the whole ball of wax, people. Divide & conquer. All restriction should be opposed, no matter how unpopular. Government only grows.. Something you do care about just hasn't come up yet.
Oppose the power to restrict. - kemp34, on 02/12/2009, -2/+74Look up the "non-aggression principle" for an answer to the madness.
- dave11980, on 02/13/2009, -2/+72The real problem there is you think the libertarian economic principals mean you can't have any regulation. It's quite the opposite. You do have regulation but the regulation is to ensure fairness in the market place. The current round of regulations do everything they can to promote certain companies or technologies. For example the sugar tariff does nothing to promote equality in the market place. It was in fact put in place with the main goal of promoting corn syrup. These bailouts are another example. Is it fair to the company that does things right to have the government take their corporate taxes and give them to companies that did wrong? Is that the kind of regulation you want? The government propping things up when they should fall or making things more expensive than their competitors?
- zolpidem, on 02/13/2009, -5/+72The scale of government is not measured in
<-Left ------------------------- Right ->
But rather
<-Anarchy ------ Totalitarianism->
Both American political parties are firmly on the right side of that scale.
Seeing comments of people that supposedly agree with the article, but then add some caveat about "gun nuts" or whatever, shows that you not only disagree, but that you didn't even understand it at all. Think an armed society is a dangerous society? Look at gun ownership versus crime statistics in Sweden or Norway, where nearly every household has a gun, yet gun crime rates are some of the lowest in the world. Look at the fact that gun control has been steadily on the rise in the UK despite increasingly restrictive gun laws. Look at states that show markedly decreased gun crime rates after reducing gun control laws. (Of course, I don't expect you to actually do that. You've made your decision and no article or Digg comment is going to change your mind.) Gun crime is a symptom, it is not the disease.
I'm a rights-theorist Libertarian. Always have been, and always will be. I even disagree with the majority of my own party - You can't call yourself a Libertarian and support the occupation of Iraq or the held-without-trial captives in Guantanamo Bay (Looking at you, Neal Boortz) and you can't call yourself a Libertarian but support drug prohibition. Even among those of us that call each other Libertarians, there's still a hypocritical infighting. But I'm one of the people that really, truly believes you can do what you want, as long as it doesn't infringe on my rights or the rights of others. I will likeways stand up and speak out or take action against those who infringe upon the rights of my fellow man. - lonelymiddle1, on 02/12/2009, -8/+72Hell yeah, this is the message I try to spread everyday. I think that this is probably the main reason I support Ron Paul. In his world, it wouldn't matter if someone didn't personally like what you or I did, so long as our right to do it was protected. So many people forget this and turn into screaming partisan douchebags. Yelling doesn't solve anything, especially when neither side has even the slightest thought of compromise.
- mjhamilton, on 02/13/2009, -0/+61I'm so excited to see another perspective other than the usual Dems vs Reps rhetoric!
- hblask, on 02/12/2009, -5/+64There are not many articles for which I wish I was allowed more than one Digg, but I'd give this one 100 if I could.
- inactive, on 02/12/2009, -6/+58This guy hits the nail right on the head. If we don't all start to think this way then we will end up in a world like Fifth Element where the government has complete control of our lives.
- andtheodor, on 02/13/2009, -2/+39Yes, that was part of the article.
A+ - Pxtl, on 02/13/2009, -4/+39The Libertarian party (once again) lost any credibility to liberals when they ran Bob Barr, a who supported the Defense of Marriage act and fought against medical marijuana.
The modern Libertarians are just paleoconservatives. Small-government conservatives that support the drug war and want laws in the bedroom are _not_ libertarians. - horatiolust, on 02/13/2009, -0/+33Rights from government? Surely you jest? What government giveth, government can taketh away. Either you have rights that are independent of government, or you're a slave to the whims of the majority
- hugolp, on 02/13/2009, -2/+34How is the one party system working for you?
- ishotthedoor, on 02/13/2009, -1/+33Athletic departments? So you are saying that the football players treat fencers or tennis players with the same respect as they do other football players?
- r0g3r, on 02/13/2009, -0/+31It's those damned queers next door....they love smoking pot, and they digg every single pot story. Damned pot head queer liberal hippies. There oughta be a law!
- Screwy1138, on 02/13/2009, -1/+32income taxes were considered unconstitutional until the early 1900's.
- Kohaxx, on 02/13/2009, -2/+32As convenient as it is to control those who are isolated, I've observed that they really do it to themselves.
We had a rally for "Freeing Gaza" the other day, meanwhile an opposing rally of Pro-Israel gathered. They both stood off against each other yelling and chanting for hours. At the end in the newspaper segment on the event one of the leaders in the Free Gaza group said that they weren't Anti-Israel and recognized the need for an Israeli state, and leaders of the Pro-Israel group said that something compassionate has to be done about the gaza refugees.
People like us vs them, they like I'm 100% right and you're wrong, and it only gets worse in a mob environment. If these people had talked and made one rally and gone somewhere besides a college campus they might have gotten more notice than a picture of "Pro-Palestine and Pro-Israel students face off" in the paper. - Renfamous, on 02/13/2009, -0/+30The problem is that many people say they want lower taxes, but by "lower" they mean lower for everyone until the government needs to pay for something that I want and then just lower for me and HIGHER for the highest tax bracket because they don't deserve their money anyway the rich bastards. It's called CLASS WARFARE and it's what the current administration is counting on to garner support for their spending bills.
- goodinohio, on 02/13/2009, -16/+45We are on the road to less freedom. Democrat voters are being fooled.
I'll never vote for another republican or democrat. - groo68, on 02/13/2009, -0/+29I support all of the differences listed above. when i say some of them people try to label me a republican, and when i say others they are happy that I'm a democrat. a lot of people don't understand what it is to be an independent.
- PeppermintPig, on 02/13/2009, -2/+31While the particulars of a situation may change, the laws of nature, or economics, do not. Our understanding of these things grows through application of logic and reasoning. This is something that people, typically politicians, like to deny as a basic fact of reality as they continue to enact similar policies of central control, thinking that the last failure was due to some element beyond their control, or because a different political party tried to do it and were OBVIOUSLY unqualified to make it work (lol). This is the fundamental spirit of the argument presented by advocates of the austrian school as well as libertarians/agorists: Where individuals are not free to dissent from the system as imposed upon them, the violation of individual liberty is apparent, which will foster tribalism where minorities fight each other through the lures of a political system and lead to the destruction of life and property.
- Zervaman, on 02/13/2009, -4/+32Government governs best when it governs least!!!
- goes211, on 02/13/2009, -3/+31I don't think these "unregulated megacorporations" would be able to operate the way you think in a truly libertarian world. Most of these large corporations rely on governmental regulation and influence to protect their markets and decrease competition. In a unregulated world without governmental influence, it would be nearly impossible for the megacorporation to exist.
What power would the megacorporation have over me unless I supported it by purchasing its products? - inactive, on 02/13/2009, -1/+29"There's only one problem here.
There is no constitutional guarantee of being able to smoke pot or to have low taxes."
There is no constitutional guarantee of being able to ride a bicycle, or drink water, we can do it. The constitution is not a list of ***** we can do, but a list of ***** the government can't do. - smacksaw, on 02/13/2009, -5/+31The funny part is that it's such an obvious word and people ignore it. Div - diversity, divide...
50 years ago there were ethnic ghettos. Now, there's the same division, except we call it celebrating diversity and culture.
The melting pot isn't perfect, but neither is segregation under a pretty, PC name. - PeppermintPig, on 02/13/2009, -3/+29Just a little background information: Mises witnessed the rise of Hitler's Germany first hand and saw the threat coming, so he left Austria very early on and ultimately came to the US. His experiences and knowledge most certainly make him an educated and credible speaker on subjects such as collectivism.
- akula89, on 02/13/2009, -1/+25it's not like laws such as anti-fraud, money laundering, tax evasion, et al would disappear under a libertarian government! for some reason a lot of people see the libertarian economy as the "wild wild west", and that view is just not accurate.
- digitalhair, on 02/13/2009, -0/+24That's the problem with labels, they create a perception of differences between us where there are none.
Orwell was right - it's the manipulation of our language that convolutes our natural logic and leaves us vulnerable to political despots that possess an esoteric understanding of the power of this tactic.
Sun Tzu laid out this effective principle of warfare long ago in The Art of War: Divide and Conquer. - chocula78, on 02/13/2009, -2/+26But the constitution does limit what powers the government has. For example, the constitution says nothing about collecting taxes for welfare and social security.. They are two very large reasons our taxes are so high.
Eliminate those programs, and your taxes will be MUCH lower. - sv650touring, on 02/13/2009, -3/+27The party isn't perfect, but way way better than Republicrats
- groo68, on 02/13/2009, -0/+24The constitution says that the federal government can only ban trade between states, but not within the states themselves, and so it is unconstitutional that the federal government is able to ban pot, or at least the first law was found unconstitutional by the supreme court, so nixon enacted the controlled substances act, which is somehow constitutional. and he did it so that he could have a reason to arrest Vietnam protesters without arresting them for protesting.
- Halsfield, on 02/13/2009, -1/+25you are so ignorant it hurts to think about. "the majority of things people want to do will hurt someone else" what the hell are you talking about?
your argument is basically saying that things like being gay and owning a gun will someday undoubtedly hurt or cause harm to other people and therefore should not be allowed and should be prohibited by our government. if that is really what you think is true i am scared for our country.
even when you talk about doing drugs legally affecting others. we already allow people to drink and smoke cigarettes. Drunk driving deaths kill more people yearly than most wars have. How many mothers smoke cigarettes while they are pregnant and cause birth defects which then are possibly taken care of by the government because the mother is too poor to take care of these self-caused problems on her own? most drug users just want to do their drugs in their own home and not cause any trouble.
most of the trouble from drugs comes from gangs that are trying to protect their drug-selling territory/shipments or people stealing to fulfill their need for drugs (which is a problem caused by the legality of the drug artificially raising the price of the drug due to it being so hard to get and manufacture). - diggdowner, on 02/13/2009, -0/+24Penn Jillette said this a while ago, and (IMO) even better:
"If you could just convince the dope people that the gun people are right, and the gun people that the dope people are right, we could actually live in a lot more freedom." - Aitese, on 02/13/2009, -3/+26Somewhere out there a gay dude with a pistol on his lap just shed a tear and lit up a doobie.
- akula89, on 02/13/2009, -2/+25"just because he saw the threat of hitler early on and left the country doesnt make him intelligent or credible"
you do realize Ludwig von Mises is one of the most famous and influential economists of all time? - inactive, on 02/13/2009, -2/+24Interesting you bring up Ron Paul, and what a great example too. I, of course, mean his stance on gay marriage and abortion.
This is really where I found my admiration for RP. He openly, as a religious man, says he is against gay marriage and abortion as a doctor, yet he very specifically stated that his feelings on the matter are irrelevant, the rights of the people to do what they want were what mattered. To me, this is having your cake, and eating it too. Bravo RP, bravo. - CTK14A, on 02/13/2009, -3/+25When the railroads were first being built in the U.S., the owners of the railroads made damn sure that their labor force was ethnically and culturally diverse -- because they all fought with one another, and were too busy with their quarreling to ask for better wages. Recently freed African slaves competed with European immigrants like the Irish and Europeans and Asian immigrants like the Coolies -- they couldn't understand one another and were kept in an artificial state of competition.
- alamedaman, on 02/13/2009, -3/+25first they came...
starts with smokers, then gamblers http://www.9news.com/rss/article.aspx?storyid=1088 ...
then gun owners
then who else? anyone else who opposes this fascism packaged in a necessary evil? how many of us can they "render" to Pakistan or Egypt anyway? - akula89, on 02/13/2009, -2/+24when asked if he was supportive of gay marriage Paul responded "I am supportive of all voluntary associations and people can call it whatever they want."
- Murdats, on 02/13/2009, -4/+26people don't want complete freedom, hell some people don't want any freedom they want state supplied lives, pre packaged and created for you (that includes all those ban games, gay marriage and other people who want state run lives)
I have no problem with giving up freedoms for the greater good of society, or even countries that run on the every man is an island principle (I just wouldn't want to live there) but you get these people who claim to be about freedom but then keep complaining that the government isn't doing this and that. freedom involves mostly being free from government. - Balath, on 02/13/2009, -1/+22Hey, she's a single lady, she does what she wants.
- mst3kcrow, on 02/13/2009, -2/+23Sadly this is what too many people still don't get: both major parties like to run on wedge issues.
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