I tend to think that if you are an American and you’re completely at odds with an entire political party, you’re probably wrong somewhere...

@redredred Libertarianism is great in your personal life, but won't work for running a society. There has never been a libertarian society on a national scale in history. The problem is, once a society gets large enough where there's no personal accountability, you need laws to prevent people from taking advantage of strangers.

George Washington was president of an imperfect libertarian society. The fact that you used the phrase "running a society" tells me all l need to know about your understanding of the topic@LeopoldBloom

@LeopoldBloom the whole idea of libertarianism is decentralization of consolidated power and redistribute it to small communities. Society runs itself.

@redredred No, back then it was an [b]agrarian[/b] society. Not the same thing. And again, it only works when people know each other personally and can hold each other accountable.

@GardenSage You can't have a central government under that system. It would be similar to Somalia, with small enclaves run by warlords.

@LeopoldBloom I didn’t know Somalia was libertarian...

Checking...
It’s not. The warlords you speak of is the result of the collapse of their democratic govt. anarchy, not libertarianism.

It’s a typical confounding in order to extremify the philosophy.
Ie, Republicans are fascist
Ie, Democrats are socialist...

@GardenSage But isn't that how you get libertarianism? You dismantle most of the government, and voilà, a libertarian society magically appears. Does it make a difference if the collapse is planned or unplanned?

My point is that libertarianism is an armchair philosophy that has never even been attempted on a national scale at any time in human history. Or at least, not since the establishment of nation-states after the Peace of Westphalia in 1648.

I lived for several years in the 1980s in a sub-Saharan African country with a very weak government, and many aspects could have been considered libertarian - for example, no business regulation whatsoever. However, an "entrepreneur" was the village blacksmith or the guy with the store who sold soap and batteries. And when al Qaeda invaded the northern half of the country, they had to call their old colonial overlords to step in and help, since the national army wasn't up to the task of repelling a bunch of guys with rifles in pickup trucks, and there were no private militias to speak of, even though people did own guns for hunting. So I concluded from observation that libertarianism doesn't work in the real world.

@LeopoldBloom The simple answer is

No.

@GardenSage"No" because libertarianism has never been attempted on a national scale, so we don't have any real-world data on how a libertarian society would be implemented. Libertarianism's main effect is Republican opposition to business regulation, but the people pushing that (with the exception of Rand Paul) aren't libertarians.

@LeopoldBloom lol... so you’d rather me join YOU? Governments proven to fail and upset the masses???

Nah thanks... I’ll stick to my “unproven” method of independence, liberty, and self accountability.


The “it’s not proven” cliche is another feeble fear-mongering tactic...

“Trust our proven-to-fail government instead. You don’t need liberties, money, or self accountability... those are all big scaries you see because nobody has ever tried it. The rich don’t want the masses to be able to achieve things on their own.”


Read “The Tao Te Ching” by Lao Tsu and realize that libertarianism is an idea that’s over 3500 years old.

@GardenSage So you're a philosophical free-loader. You take advantage of the benefits of government, while claiming to oppose it. And while some governments, notably authoritarian ones have failed, the less authoritarian ones continue to survive and even thrive. The ideal system seems to be regulated capitalism.

I have read the Tao Te Ching. Lao Tzu isn't advocating libertarianism. He's recommending a less coercive government. And China has never been libertarian at any point in its history.

@LeopoldBloom you really need to put me in a box don’t you... lol. Identify the contrarian and insult him.


You’re truly pathetic.