[lbo-talk] How to explain things to (right-wing) libertarians

Tayssir John Gabbour tayssir.john at googlemail.com
Wed Mar 28 18:11:43 PDT 2007


"How To Explain Things to Libertarians" Chris Clarke February 23rd, 2007 <http://pandagon.net/2007/02/23/how-to-explain-things-to-libertarians/>

Eventually, it happens to all of us. You'll be talking to someone, online or in person, who seems completely normal. Then all of a sudden, out of nowhere, the person will say something really weird, like "You can't fix a problem like underpaid public school teachers by just throwing money at them!" or "Why do they need tax-funded traffic lights at this corner? All the cross-traffic's already stopped, which shows the Free Market works!" or "Hitler was a Communist! They called themselves the 'National Socialists' for a reason!"

You, my friend, have just made the unpleasant discovery that you've been talking to a Libertarian.

[...]

Tayssir

-- (Incidentally, the first known use of the political term "libertarian" was in 1857 by a French anarcho-communist. In 1955, right-wingers in the US co-opted the term, in response to the Progressive movement co-opting "liberal." This fact tends to pacify right-wing libertarians when they start grumbling that liberalism means something else.)



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