Ron Paul thinks that Republicans may elect a libertarian-minded candidate in 2012. I certainly prefer libertarian-leaning candidates. I think the simple solution is less government and people make their own choices and that works best for everyone.
But we don’t want any full-bore libertarians.
I don’t know what it is, but when you go all the way down the libertarian path, it leads to complete insanity. Just look at Ron Paul followers — they’re pretend-to-be-Spock-and-bite-each-other crazy. The libertarian philosophy seems reasonable enough, but it somehow always leads to candidates who accidentally dye themselves blue or carry around a pet ferret named Gustav.
So anyway, let’s definitely get someone in 2012 sympathetic to libertarian ideals who is adamantly against fiscal irresponsibility and government expansion — and for individualism — but if any candidates start foaming at the mouth, screaming “FIAT MONEY!!!!!”, back away and don’t make eye contact. Still, pure libertarians have a place in the GOP, but they’re sort of like Murdoch to the Republican A-Team: They keep breaking him out of the insane asylum because he’s useful for certain situations, but they’re not going to put him in charge of anything. Or there will be much fool pitying.
“I don’t know what it is, but when you go all the way down the libertarian path, it leads to complete insanity.”
I always explain it this way: I’m nodding my head in agreement with libertarians that the government shouldn’t force us to wear seatbelts when suddenly they’re arguing against having traffic lights.
Libertarians are fine, but I dislike the idea of legalizing pot. That goes against everything Merle Haggard sang for.
I didn’t need to know that.
The trouble is, some of the people who just want to be left alone–by everyone, not just by the government–want that because they want to engage in socially unacceptable activities. They’re closer to anarchists than libertarians, but not the kind of “anarchists” that start riots hoping to bring down the current government so they can set up their own government. And the Libertarian Party is the largest group they can identify with.
I hate to break it to you Marko, but as a huge Haggard fan, I need to clarify some stuff for you.
He has until recently been a regular partaker of the weed. Only lung cancer has stopped him, Willie, Waylon, Merle, havE all been huge lovers of Cannabis. Try listening to Toby Keith on thus.
I suggest that you listen to every song of his other than Okie from Muskogee, which is great btw, and tell me where Marijuana is against what Mr Haggard has stood for.
http://www.nashvillescene.com/nashvillecream/archives/2009/01/02/merles-world-the-hag-ditches-the-schwag
I have no problem whatsoever with the legalization of pot. It certainly does not create the same health issues as alcohol or cigarettes. Also, nobody ever got arrested for beating the crap out of their wives or kids while being high on weed.
Okay, I’m gonna be serious for a moment. IMO, Republicans are a mix of classic liberalism, Jeffersonian libertarianism, fiercely independent small town, community frontierism – all mixed with Goldwater-type world leadership: be our friend – we won’t let you down; be our enemy and you’ll be dead meat in the morning. The pure Libertarians just do NOT understand the real world and would rather it go away.
Maybe I’m wrong about the Goldwater part, I don’t know.
I have been a libertarian conservative for decades. Unfortunatly the label has been takern by a number of fruity tooty types. A belief in limited government is way shy of pushing fiat money, the evils of flouridation, and the belief that the 9/11 airliners were personally flown by Dick Cheney while the towers actually were leveled by the super secret bilderburger New World Order phaser beam given to us by the aliens in 1954. (I know people who beleive this, really.) There has been a melding of the libertarian cause and the ultra left for decades. Allowing the idiot pot issue to take over was the movement’s death knell.
Not that it wouldn’t be cool to have a super duper phaser ray. Mounted on dinosaurs.
Libertarianisim makes a great national policy internally. It’s foreign policies went out with the steam ship.
Apparently libertarians are unable to detect sarcasm. Must be all that pot.
I agree with libertarians on most domestic issues, but like storm1911 said, their “foreign” policy is whacked. If Isolationism didn’t work in the 1930s and 40s, how’s it going to work in today’s world?
However, as whacked as I think RON PAUL! and his dingbat followers are, I’ll vote for the whackjob over Obama without giving it a thought. Yes, Obama is that bad.
Jimmy
I don’t know how you could be wrong about Barry (that’s Goldwater, not Obama). He was a lot more complicated than that (You’ve been reading too much leftist propaganda). I rooted for him but I was 3 weeks short of 21 so he lost the election when I could not vote. Too bad:>(
But BHO is worse than Carter and that brought us Reagan, so hang in until 2012. Now that we have had a Papist and a Black man it’s time for a conservative Jew. Maybe Netanyahu? After all that native born thing is gone.
Better to elect a libertarian than a liberal. Period, end of story.
I would like to argue, that as a Libertarian minded person, I think the assumed insanity is really more the product of our media’s short attention span. Often times Libertarian ideas need 9 more minutes then the 1 minute the meida gives us. Occasionally, and more recently there has been a rise in conspiracy theorists who unfortunatly have done more to damage and pose a destraction from the true ideas and platform of the mainstream liberttarian. I truly believe, that while we might not all agree on the libertarian ideology, if more people would maybe pick up an article by a well known libertarian, or listen to a speech or debate (uncensored), or even read a little of LP.org (libertarian party website) instead of relying on a forum post or illumini conspiracy theory post on a youtube video, most everyone can atleast agree that its not insane, if not agree with the issue itself.
As for pot, I think its unfortunate when someone says they are libertarian becuase they are a pothead, and then pin conspiracy or or government handouts to the ideology not understanding that legalising pot might be the only thing libertarians truly agree with them on. (basically some people don’t understand the ideology and unintentional hurt it). However that maybe, I would never silence anyone who claims they were a libertarian, due to a laps in understanding, but i will certainly write a forum post and post a link to explain its reality. However, I think it should be noted that as a libertarian I have never and will never smoke pot, I defend it becuase Its a person’s right to their own body to do so, The war on drugs has effectivly increased police budget and prison costs to house people who have done no harm to any other individual, and it has increased violence by forcing dealers to handle issues themselves rather than with the law like legal institutions. An example of this is the Al Capones during prohibition. We did not have Al Capones before prohibition or after. Its unfortunate and seemingly insane but as history has shown the act of outlawing substances we think increase violence, increases violence even more.
I would also argue (I know this is getting long), As far as forigen policy goes, its not insane. I don’t know if any of you have read the 9/11 commision report, but it supports that it was our internvention in suadi arabia triggered the event. Ben laden has been quoted warning us if we did not leave there would be an attack. Not to mention that of the 2 trillion dollars government takes in taxes a year, 1 trillion is spent over seas (in over 900 bases). We are still in germany today, 65 years after WWII. Governments primary function ought to be national defense, not the defence of all these other nations. We could spend a trillion dollars at home much more effectivly in terms of defence, than in defending all these foriegn soils. Our relation with other nations should be talking and trading, regardless of who they are. Trade with all alliances with none. Thomas jefferson said somthing to that effect. Up until recently America was always the peaceful, but when they hit us we hit them back harder than anything they’ve ever seen in their life. Nations will have no reason to attack us if we stay out of their affairs and stop choosing sides. We ought to remain neutral unless it affects our own national interests directly. And you can disagree with that, but if anyone thinks that it is insane as opposed to just disagreeing with it, I suggest they look to themselves.
Whoa, Ivan, I thought I was the oldest one here! And BTW, I don’t read leftist propaganda. I was a teenager when AuH2O ran and followed him closely then, believe it or not. He did seem to change in later years, however. And you’re right, he was a complicated man, indeed. Cheers.
I liked Barry Goldwater. I liked the fact he wanted to stop funding the U.N when China came in. Took a lot of guts.
I wanted to agree with Cilla. Never been much of a UN supporter. It undermines our souvernty. Great call goldwater, if only they elected you.
I, am new to this site, and am wondering if anyone knows if it usually takes 30 minutes for a comment to be done moderating. It is a little long but it can be read in 2 minutes and I havn’t used any profanity caps or insults which might have warrented such a wait. 2 comments have been passed since i wrote mine at 3:11. I’m not trying to be sceptical, but I thought I made a good point, and it would be a shame if it were censored for any reason (not that I know why it would be, everyone here seems reasonable, which translates to no one here would dismiss the chance to destroy an arguement if they disagree with it) Thanks.
I really miss Barry Goldwater. I was still a poopin’ in my diapers when he made his run, but it was his _Conscience_of_a_Conservative_ that made me see the light during my teens. I had been raised in a house of abject liberals and knew no better. (I would have voted for Carter had I been old enough.) My best friend insisted I read it while I was during the Carter years, and I’ve never looked back. Period.
Barry Goldwater was against legalizing pot. That’s good enough for me.
Reagan / Goldwater 2010. The bumper sticker alone would put liberals in cardiac arrest.
The pot thing is as non-sequiter as the abortion thing. They have been blown out of proportion by the loony left to shore up thier proaganda. Those issues are for each state and the citizens thereof to decide period. The feds should not be invoolved in anything except foriegn policy, national defense, and commerce that crosses state lines.
Now as far as libertarians go, Ron Paul is just like many in the past, fruity as a nutcake. However, a fruity clown with feces for brains is still far better than a marxists pos with soros where the brain should be.
Dang I spell like one of Franks spammers. Me go have beer now.
Friday BEER. Drink now. Plenty have – true bread of gold water. (Hey!)
(All this broken English is Frank’s fault!)
@storm1911: I love it. Am going to cafepress.com and order one for my truck. I want to see Liberals drop like flies .
If someone no smarter then your average hippie can grow it with dirt and water then its obviously not a controllable substance.
Later in life I came to have a great deal of respect for Barry Goldwater, but during the 1964 campaign, I was still being held hostage in Massachusetts and the brain washing would have caused me to vote for LBJ. Fortunately, I was only 19 that year and could not vote, so I was saved from facing the rest of my life with this indelible stain on my soul.
Unfortunately, LBJ won the election in 1964. A few years later he tracked me down, cut off all my hair and sent me to Vietnam.
Many people who smoke pot think Kurt Cobain could sing. Thus, I support government intervention to stop pot.
I say f*ck the Libertarians. What the hell did we learn from the Donner party anyway?! Nothing?! Eat them!! EEEEEAAAATTTT THEM!!!! For Gods’ sake!
Oh God I love the smell of bacon!
#16 – Shane,
I’ve had comments at this site (my favoritest) moderated before, but I never sat around with a stopwatch to see how long it took for them to come out of moderation.
This site is PG-13 so they may moderate anything remotely obscene, or it may be because your earlier comment was so long, or maybe they just don’t like you.
Seriously, don’t worry about it and just enjoy the funny! 😉
Libertarians have great logical arguments, but they sometimes lead to ridiculous conclusions. Mr Spock and Data from Star Trek are great examples of the flaws I see in great logical arguments. To me, the problem of Libertarians is thus: It means that you must rely on a purely logical, almost mathematical reasoning, and the answer is fixed whether you like it or not. Imagine having to use a mathematical formula to determine your favorite flavor of ice cream. If you plugged in the variables, the answer may come out that you MUST LIKE tutti-fruitti. Too bad if you don’t.
Libertarians are really just Librarians. They changed their name to sound cooler.
I’m semi-libertarian, but the Libertarian Party is full of crazy anarchist conspiracy nuts posing as libertarians. I’d rather vote Republican.
I’d like to just have somebody to vote for that doesn’t make me think “lesser of two evils”. Is it really never going to be ‘better’?
#31
It’s the lesser of two evils? I thought it was “weasels”. No wonder I couldn’t ferret out which one to vote for.
Libertarians are fun because of the idea that if the President or the National Government can do something, the Constitution ought to say so. I could totally see a Libertarian President going to Congress and telling them that his reading of the Constitution says that troops can only be stationed at places we own or are at war with and giving them a one week deadline to either annex or declare war on any overseas locale our troops are in or else they’ll come home. Spock bites 9/11-ey goodness!
All I want from those who want to run for office is that they tell me, straight up, what they are planning to do once they get there. The representative from our district showed up at my door before he was first elected and told me what he was going to do once he got to Washington and so far that’s what he’s done. He promised to work for jobs for our state, to try to reign in government spending, to aid the military and work for common sense solutions.
I realize that honesty is not a popular value any more but I’m done listening to the “He said……….. “She said…………. I don’t care what He/she said. I want to know what you’re going to do. I want to hear what you say about (insert concern here). I don’t want you to be jetting off to Cabo San Lucas for some phony conference. I want to see you back home at least as much as you’re in DC and I really don’t want to hear about you being literally or figuratively in bed with any special interest group or lobbyist.
Oh and I will research what you tell me, and if I find out you lied I will post it here, or at another blog or on my own blog because since others have lied to me before, it is now how I roll.
Much like other political parties, the Libertarian Party was taken over by idiots. These days, their conventions mostly ignore the sane, conservative part of their agenda and all discussions center on legalizing drugs, surrendering to Muslim terrorists, and voicing dissent with things they actually agree with just so they can prove that they are able to disagree.
RON PAUL!
For Liberty is a very professionally done documentory on the birth and growth of the Liberty movement and (not to be redundant) the Ron Paul campaign.
this is 2 hrs long but well worth watching:
If the Republican Party goes Libertarian then I will never be able to vote again.
PERIOD!!!
As far as I am concerned it would be a terrible SIN to vote for Libertarian! The
Republicans are bad enough already. We have too many RINO’s and too many
squishy moderates that bend with the wind (hot air from the Media) but to go
Libertarian (pro-legalizing Marijuana, pro-legalizing all drugs, pro-abortion, pro-
legalizing Prostitution, and on and on and….) is even worse than supporting
John McCain.
In fact, like I previously stated, to VOTE LIBERTARIAN (as far as I am concerned)
would be a damnable unforgivable Sin. I have no intention of going to HELL for the
Libertarian Party.
Then you have the KOOK factor (Alex Jones and Ron Paul’s twisted conspiracy
theories) that embrace flat out LIES about everything.
Ron Paul lies about American Gulags and Concentration Camps.
Ron Paul lies about Bush have the POWERS OF HITLER.
Ron Paul lies about the Patriot Act and the Economy (which is not good).
The bottom line is that the Libertarians WORSHIP FREEDOM not God.
They put thier FAITH in GOVERNMENT (if ruled by them) not God.
They practice Idolatry (in many forms) including Nationality Worship, Founders
Worship, Political Leaders Worship, which is just a modern form of Baal Worship
But the worst thing the Libertarians do is they prostitute the Bible as they preach
the Libertarian doctrine of the Christain Founding of a holy Christian America which
is totally false.
The USA is not a Christian Nation. I wish it was. If this was a Christian Nation there
would be NO Libertarians (or Liberals).