10/23/07 04:02 - 51ºF - ID#41762

Libertarians - I like the concept

I really like the idea of being a Libertarian. Other than the fact that I want the FDA to test all my drugs. And I want my food tested for safety. And I don't want everyone to have the right to have a gun. And some people cannot be trusted with money and/or power and must be regulated, like polluting industries. And worker's safety, I'm a big fan of that. And the rich should be taxed at a higher rate than the poor. But other than, I'm a Libertarian.

dcoffee writes at 11:45:11 10/25/07 - Comment #26884: Libertarianism is a philosophy, not a way of governing. They believe that the only thing the government should be responsible for is maintaining an army, the unregulated market should take care of everything else.
It's a decent philosophy, and we need a good segment of libertarians in the population to keep us balanced. But, if the ideology was ever implemented it would degrade into corporatism (aka Fascism) quickly, and we'd become a feudal society.

The problem is that the "free" market does not encourage competition, it encourages monopoly. If we left it up to the corporations, one of them would eventually come out on top, they would use their money to consolidate their power and hegemony over the rest. They would keep buying companies until the majority of our products and services are be controlled by one company. That company would be far more powerful than the government. We would effectively be ruled by a corporation whose leaders we can not elect. We would have no control over our circumstances. It would be imposable to take power back from this corporation by democratic means. Seems like an inevitable problem for the Libertarian system.

If you can answer the problem of the hegemonic corporation I might change my mind.

Also the ACLU is a good group to join if you want to protect your liberties.

james writes at 05:55:27 10/23/07 - Comment #26797: well, that is almost like saying "I am a communist but without the communal ownership of the means of production thing" but narrow political categories are lame, so kudos for broadening it.

brit writes at 04:59:29 10/23/07 - Comment #26796: my professor is the head of freestate.org, they are libertarians that want to move to New Hampshire and take over local politics with a eye on the House and Senate. He is kind of quietly insane but he's growing on me...still, I think guns are bad and I like high taxes for the rich so I think I won;t be allowed on the NH ark