In terms of the potential for loss of human rights and liberty, from which of America's three predominant political views (e.g., liberal, conservative or libertarian) do you have the least to fear?
Well, in consideration of the fact that conservatism (Mussolinian statism) and modern liberalism (Marxian statism) are essentially the same animal, and that both of these flavors seek to wrest control of the government in order to force others to bend to their twisted social, political and economic views, I'd say the Libertarian viewpoint/ethic was the least injurious.
Or, to put it simply in deference to those who are hopelessly and defiantly addicted in some manner to government teat:
Conservatives wanna be your daddy. They want government to tell you what to do with your body.
Liberals wanna be your mamma. They want government to tell you what to do with your property.
Libertarians want you to be an adult. They want to leave you alone.
I agree with you for the most part. Though extreme libertarianism is too permissive. It causes society to fall apart and the resulting chaos is fertile ground for rise of the exact opposite ideas.
All political systems have to be authoritarian enough to prevent their own destruction. Ironically, when there is too much liberty, people will use their liberty to destroy liberty.
The nation is headed for collapse. Timing and other details are unpredictable, so the answer just has to wait for what develops after the collapse. I am trying to imagine some combination of Robin Hood and Mad Max.
Wrong. People will tolerate liberty for about a hundred and fifty years, and then they create a central government to take over all their responsibilities. And they don't ever want them back for any reason.
Who said these were the three predominant views? You're trying to limit my choices and personal freedom. The Invisible Hand of the Free Market won't stand for this. A new Q&A site will rise up and take over this question because it is the right thing for The Market.
Hello N:
As a small government liberal, MY views offer the least to fear.. Conservatism favors LARGE government with HUGE police forces.. If you're poor Libertarianism is to be feared cause you'll be left to fend for yourself..
Small government liberalism embraces capitalism, with a safety net for those who fall through the cracks.. I'd get rid of the DEA, Homeland Security, the NSA, ICE, the BOP, the Education Department, and several others.. I'd eliminate the religious tax exemption, and flatten the Social Security tax.
We'll be FREE and rolling in the DOUGH. Any questions?
excon
Who are you trying to kid Excon? The revoking of tax exemption and cuts you mention wouldn't even make a decent sized dent in the yearly deficit, never mind dig the U.S. out its national debt or the black hole of unfunded liabilities.
In 2012 the department of education for example is about 1.9% of U.S. government spending. Homeland security is 1.1%. Even excessive military spending is only 14.4%.
The elephant in the room is leftist social programs.
I don't know, could you maybe give a simplistic and biased description of each party to help us decide? Oh you did, thanks.
"The nation is headed for collapse" - with absolutely no time frame or details of what you mean by "collapse", this is a sure fire winner. Thanks Nostradamus. :/
I identify well with libertarianism, but I've noted many libertarians that espouse a type of states rights that I really don't agree with, so I can't go all in with that either.
I'm an voluntaryist, individualism is where I'm comfortable with govt. power.
OUCH !
None of the above.
Libertarianism (other than as window dressing to sell Corporatist Kleptocracy to the ignorant masses) has almost no political influence in the United States.
While there is some liberal influence on the Democratic Party, it is dominated by Corporatist Kleptocrats who largely favor the status quo. Similarly, on the GOP side of the aisle, there are some principled conservatives, but mostly it's an unstable mix of racists/xenophobes, Corporatist Kleptocrats, and Theocratic dominionists.
The major driver of American political direction in money, not philosophy. If you happen to perceive your self-interests as congruent with those of the moneyed class, things look pretty rosy to you. If you don't, things look pretty bleak.
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/princeton-experts-say-us-no-longer-democracy
Statism is only a threat to the corporatist Kleptocrats if they don't control it. Though all the evidence is that they do. Why try to get rid of one's own puppet?
If the Corporatist Kleptocrats want libertarianism, why don't they fund it? The system doesn't give libertarian candidates a dime, but they heavily fund the virtual identical establishment left and establishment right.
If the Corporatist Kleptocrats hate the left, why doesn't the democratic party just have to go begging for grassroots donations?
The Corporatist Kleptocrats own the media, so why are leftist attitudes indulged? Why is libertarianism pissed on even by FOX?
It seems obvious to me that they want the current status quo, and see both the anti establishment left and the anti establishment right as a massive threat.
They know the leftists would steal their sh*t and the capitalists would out compete them in a free market. So they make sure we stay centrist.
Oh, I'm sorry. I wasn't aware that I wasn't supposed to participate in my own question. Thanks for setting me straight. From here on out I'll check with you before I post something.
LOL!
Bingo!
In general, people are too indolent/amoral for liberty to last more than the specified period of time.
Liberty serves as the matrix for the production of enormous wealth, and with wealth comes laziness, stupidity and turpitude on a massive scale.
But of the three predominant views, which is the LEAST fearful?
LOL! Stop it, Bro. You've already won me over with your wry wit.
What you're describing as "small government liberalism," Ex, is called classical liberalism.
And classical liberalism by any other name is Libertarianism. :-)
Watch it, Austrian. You've committed a HUGE PC faux pas. "Black holes" are called holes of color now. :-)
Interesting. Still, in what ways are libertarianism and voluntaryism not fungible?
Why? What do you find the most fearful about the idea of being left alone?
