re: Why Fox News is Winning

quote:

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Salon, et al, are very much of the opinion that certain personal freedoms ought to be infringed and removed. If the Left wants to restrict gun rights and insist that some apparatus be in place so as to restrict "privilege" at my expense, then what should I call them? I personally disagree with certain things that the Left hold dear, but I don't actively contribute to groups that would want to destroy or infringe upon those rights. Libertarians don't attempt to use the State as a means of force to exert their beliefs - the Left very much does.

I'm not sure how a group of people that are intently marching towards Marxist theory is anything *but* antithetical to Libertarian ideals. I'd like to hear your counterpoint. Salon, et al, are very much of the opinion that certain personal freedoms ought to be infringed and removed. If the Left wants to restrict gun rights and insist that some apparatus be in place so as to restrict "privilege" at my expense, then what should I call them? I personally disagree with certain things that the Left hold dear, but I don't actively contribute to groups that would want to destroy or infringe upon those rights. Libertarians don't attempt to use the State as a means of force to exert their beliefs - the Left very much does.

I'm not sure how a group of people that are intently marching towards Marxist theory is anything *but* antithetical to Libertarian ideals. I'd like to hear your counterpoint.

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My counterpoints contain multitudes:

1. Unless you're an anarcho-capitalist, you believe in using the State to exert your beliefs too (for instance, that theft is wrong). All it means is you have a smaller set of beliefs. Therefore if you're not Stefan Molyneux or some similar crank it's disingenuous to use "THE STATE! MEN WITH GUNS!" as an argument ending boogeyman.

2. I could replace everything in your first paragraph with "the right," and if I swapped the gun example for something else it would map fine. Yet you and most libertarians reserve this visceral dislike for "the left." This is especially apparent by the idea that "the left" in America uses Marxist theory, which means you hold either an exaggerated view of their beliefs or a wildly overbroad definition of Marxism.

3. Foreign policy is a thing. I dislike libertarians who ignore it or insist that it's optional. The implication of most right-libertarian arguments is that it's justifiable to lend support to an ideology whose posture is "BOMB EM" because they also can be counted on to oppose a single-digit increase in the marginal tax rates or whatever we're defining as Full Marxist these days.

3a. (I'm eliding Rand Paul because he is an exception and most of his "libertarian" supporters see Walker and Cruz and other straight-up cons as acceptable second choices rather than spoiling their vote.)

4. Even the right can't be counted on in this country to follow through on their promises and display competence. Get them in power and they believe in cutting taxes, not government. Personally I find deficit-and-spend worse than tax-and-spend because at least the latter is morally honest, it doesn't foist it off on the next generation. When a socialist politician fricks up, they discredit socialism. When a capitalist politician (or one professing such) fricks up, they discredit capitalism. You want to know why Millenials lean left? Just look at the avatars of the right during their formative years.

5. In addition, the right reacted to Ron Paul by buying into the dumb parts of his platform and rejecting the smart ones. Throughout the last eight years I've been told, first by Lew Rockwell and now by the rank-and-file right, how our reaction to the financial crisis would lead to various inflation doomsdays. Every crisis is Weimar Germany, even when they're actually 1990s Japan. Meanwhile Europe, which reacted by enacting the austerity measures craved by the right, is in the shitter. Just as war stupidity trumps economic stupidity, macroeconomic stupidity trumps "hurf durf look at this silly NSF grant."

6. Libertarianism has three legs: economic liberty, social liberty, and peace. The right only even pretends to be a friend of libertarianism on one of those, and when push comes to shove they always frick up in spectacular fashion. Yet for some reason "libertarians" in America still see themselves as slightly heterodox part of the right, and the left as "the enemy." This unwillingness to see the right for what it is has led to them being enabled, time and again, by libertarians buying into their bullshite when they're in opposition and then making excuses for them in power. "Well, the left is worse." "Well, my taxes are lower." "Well, we'll help them elect a TRUE conservative next time." Eisenhower is dead. Reagan is dead (and he wasn't any great shakes anyway). This is what they are now.