So what do these young people think of the libertarians such as Raimondo at antiwar.com? Libertarians seem to have widely different views on what US foreign policy should be like. Whenever I want a good selection of critical articles on US foreign policy I go first to antiwar.com.
Cheers, k hanly
Blog: http://kenthink7.blogspot.com/index.html Blog: http://kencan7.blogspot.com/index.html
--- On Fri, 1/1/10, Bryan Atinsky <bryan at alt-info.org> wrote:
> From: Bryan Atinsky <bryan at alt-info.org>
> Subject: [lbo-talk] My Ayn Randian, libertarian loving relatives....argh... !!!
> To: lbo-talk at lbo-talk.org
> Date: Friday, January 1, 2010, 7:57 PM
> Oh god. Has there been a large surge
> in Randian and libertarian worship among the 20 something
> crowd?
>
> I ask because my father's sister has has five daughters who
> had several boys who are now mostly in there early to late
> 20s, and it seems they are nearly all entranced by Rand,
> Nozick, and libertarian tripe in general.
>
> Lately, some of them have taken to use Facebook as their
> soap box. It is embarrassing to read their nonsense.
> I was wondering if others notice this trend, have to suffer
> this silliness. Do I just have the bad luck of the draw, or
> is this a trend among that generation?
>
> Here are some sadly funny quotes from them of late:
>
> "Why is it that buildings in America can withstand
> earthquakes and strong hurricanes while buildings in
> countries in Russia and China crumble like Saltine crackers
> under similar conditions? "
>
> "When the strongest free nation is reduced to a socialized
> welfare state the entire world be will threatened by the
> tyrant with the biggest army and the most destructive
> weapons. In the end, only a one world government imposing
> their ideology of how much enough is will be capable of
> controlling us and that will be a disaster for those of us
> that love our freedom. "
>
> "Our Country donates more money, resources, knowledge, and
> manpower to help humanity all around the globe than all
> other countries combined. Only in a free country can free
> people help others in need. Capping freedom in the name of
> "social justice" will hurt efforts to end human suffering
> globally."
>
> I mistakenly tried to answer a quote of their's from
> Nozick: "Taxation of earnings from labor is on a par with
> forced labor"
>
> With this quick critique from me: "One big problem with
> Nozick's minimal state (and libertarian nonsense in general)
> is that as the differential distribution of resources
> inevitably grows more and more monopolistic in a feedback
> loop, in your dream society, the percentage of the
> population impoverished will grow, and unlike Nozick's
> utopia, they will not take this sitting down, and the only
> way to ensure a retention of this distribution would be an
> extremely large police state. Oh goody!"
>
> Which just set them off on a feeding frenzy:
>
> "Ouch Brian...the liberal personal attack method is growing
> weary. Your dream society seems more like communism, where
> the distribution of resources is supposedly equal (unless of
> coarse you are part of the communist elite). Only problem is
> that production is reduced because there is no motivation to
> even meet demand. Eventually, distribution of basic products
> requires an extremely large and brutal police state - as
> history has shown and that is your reality. Your criticism
> of Nozick's minimal state is missing a very basic
> unmeasurable component: Risk. In a free society, individuals
> have the freedom to take risks based on perceptions of
> rewards. Many risks are not successful and thus individuals
> economic status changes, sometimes drastically. Sure, you
> consider your self to be a well indoctrinated liberal
> elitist who has all the answers and just wishes others would
> listen - because you know it all. You have the inane ability
> to detect injustice where ever it's perpetrated anywhere in
> the universe and immediately understand what it will take to
> level the playing field in a fair and just system. If only
> others could see things as clearly as you do....But the real
> reality is your thoughts are extremely far to the left.
> Libertarianism promotes a free society which is what this
> Country's constitution is based on. Freedom also offers you
> the liberty to have an unpopular viewpoint and the ability
> to espouse it where ever and when ever you please without
> fear of government retribution, jail, or death as was the
> fate of those fighting for freedom in Tienanmen Square.What
> I don't understand is why we need faux freedom fighters,
> like you, to correct self perceived injustices. "
>
> "That is right, you are not a liberal, you are a communist.
> For some reason it is more important to you to have social
> equality than justice and human rights. You can say that I
> am prepubescent and i don't care because its not true but at
> least I don't have something mentally wrong with me. There
> are 2 stages to communism, and until you get to the ... See
> Morepure communist state human rights doesn't matter. That
> is why over 60 million people have died in the last century
> in the name of equality. Also what do you do besides live
> off the teet of your wife's work. Well I guess this just
> proves that you value your life more than others and so live
> like a parasite and live off the work of others. You may not
> agree with my views but you have never stated yours. Get off
> your ivory tower, just because you have been stuck in
> college for the last 25 years doesn't mean you know
> everything or anything."
>
>
>
>
>
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