> jf noonan wrote:
>
> >In supposedly purely technical places like bsdi-users ((dick
> >wave alert: I've been on that list since BSD/OS was 0.3.3)) I
> >have NEVER seen a political comment that didn't assume that the
> >Free Market(tm) wasn't an unalloyed good. I have never seen a
> >'liberal' political comment, never mind a socialist one.) This
> >same thing is true of NANOG (one exception -- there is a Chomsky
> >fan over there), smartlist/procmail, and basically any technical
> >list I've ever been on where politics comes up. I will grant
> >that many geeks don't think about politics much, but when they
> >do most will spew some esr /John Gilmore/ Tim May bullshit.
>
> So why are geeks such market-besotted libertarians? Because they're
> poorly socialized loners? What's the reason?
<flamebait> Do not mistake a lack of desire to socialise with morons as poor social skills. </flamebait>
Ya know, I really think that the left hasn't a CLUE about why people are libertarians, and what a libertarian is (and Kelley aptly pointed out that many on the other side don't fully understand the differences within the left and between liberalism).
Many geeks are libertarians because we believe that a highly centralised and powerful State leads inevitably to tyranny. That people think it has dick to do with paying less taxes shows how clueless about it all they really are.
If many and most of your friends were being harassed and investigated by the Feds how much of a fan of the .gov would you be?
Most of the cyberlibertarians care about RKBA, privacy, and cryptography. How many secrets would the .gov let me keep in the Socialist Utopia? The Socialist Utopia may look great on paper but it ain't gonna fly when you've got the Klintons and the Algores usurping power.
THAT's why geeks are [market-besotted] libertarians.
Matt
-- Matt Cramer <cramer at voicenet.com> http://www.voicenet.com/~cramer/ Like Ma Bell, I've got the ill communication.
-Beastie Boys