quote:
1. Government is a necessary evil, sure. I'm not an anarchist. But the smaller, the absolutely better. The organized left largely does not believe this. By and large, they believe that not only does the government have the power to influence individual lives, but that it has a moral responsibility to do so. This is antithetical to libertarian thought.

2. Government redistribution of resources is a typically accepted platform of the left through progressive taxation. Barriers to entry on basis of race/gender (e.g., government contracts exclusively to minority owned businesses) is another institution the Left is typically on board with, as it helps to reduce "abuse of privilege." Income inequality and caps on compensation are also included, and decidedly not capitalistic or libertarian. If none of this is moving into Marxist territory, then you're right, we don't agree on what that even means.

3. Straw man. Said nothing about foreign policy in my original post.

4. Though I said nothing about any of this, I'll disagree with you here. When a socialist fricks up in this country, they're largely given a free pass by a complicit media, and the blame is placed on capitalism. Reference the rest of this thread. When a "capitalist" fricks up, it's because of corporatism (which is antithetical to libertarianism, again), but is blamed on capitalism.

5. Again, I said nothing about this, either. But these chickens haven't come home to roost yet, all the same. The mortgage bubble was inflating in the late 90s, but it took a decade for it to burst. The government debt bubble has a much higher ceiling, and probably won't come due for another generation. Doesn't change the fact that it's still ultimately going to burst.

6. I'm well aware of the three legs. The rest is trying to lump me in with the right - which I don't claim. I've never voted for a Republican, and don't intend to do so.

1. The organized right largely doesn't believe this either. It's literally nothing but a useful talking point for them. The last conservative to shrink government was Eisenhower, and he was a moderate.

2. Nothing in this list is Marxist except maybe caps on compensation. "Government redistribution" through "progressive taxation" is a feature of pretty much every first-world country. Nor did Marx invent it. Marx would have hated any focus on race/gender as it did not pertain to class. You can read Greek or Roman sources expressing concern with economic inequality as it existed then; modern concerns date at least to Rousseau. Marxism to you appears to be "a thing I don't like."

3. Yes, hence the term "libertarians who ignore it."

4. We'll have to agree to disagree here I suppose, as I don't think anyone gets passes.

5. What chickens do you imagine will come home to roost? And more importantly, when? If your default posture is just to constantly say something is coming, whether it's inflation or recession or whatever, you're bound to be right eventually. Ron Paul predicted the financial crisis of 2007. He also predicted the financial crises of 2003, 1999, 1995, etc.

6. I'm lumping you in with the right because you reserved special venom for the left, as opposed to rejecting the left-right dichotomy entirely. Libertarians who do this are useful idiots for Republicans regardless of whether they formally affiliate or not.

This post was edited on 3/12/15 at 2:58 pm