Arguing that "liberty" can mean something else in the US of A is quite pointless and even dangerous, because it will almost certainly lead to political bait--and-switch. The supposedly desirable concept of liberty that you name dropped but did not describe will be used to get a public buy-in and then substituted with the concept of liberty that is a standard fare here - the liberty of businessmen to operate without any regulations.
In fact, it looks quite stupid to me to have a debate on the terms that are defined by the opponent, unless one has a masochistic desire of being a punching boy for the right wing pundits.
On Sun, Jun 23, 2013 at 3:39 PM, Wojtek S <wsoko52 at gmail.com> wrote:
> E: " I was only providing the reference for those
>
> who would be interested in chasing it down. "
>
> [WS:] So summarizing the argument was too much for you? Or is a variant
> on the intellectual snob names dropping "if you only read blah blah
> blah...."
>
> FYI, I have no interests in conceptual debates, at least at this point in
> life. What concerns me is the socio-political realities. In this country,
> the word "liberty" is used to denote the ability of businessmen to do as
> they please without any interference from government and society, except
> bailouts and subsidies. End of story. If someone wants to tell me that
> the "word" liberty means also something else than that - I do not doubt
> this. After all, abstract words mean whatever people want them to mean.
>
> Arguing that "liberty" can mean something in the US of A is quite
> pointless and even dangerous, because it will almost certainly lead to a
> political bait--and-switch. The supposedly desirable concept of liberty
> that you named dropped but did not describe will be used to get a public
> buy-in and then substituted with the concept of liberty that is a standard
> fare here - the liberty of businessmen to operate without any regulations.
> In fact, it looks quite stupid to me to have a debate on the terms that
> are defined by the opponent, unless one has a masochistic desire of being a
> punching boy for the wight wing pundits.
>
>
>
> --
> Wojtek
>
> "An anarchist is a neoliberal without money."
>
-- Wojtek
"An anarchist is a neoliberal without money."