Are there any libertarians on Fluther?

Isn’t that what the USA has already? The government protects us in times of need (war and financial bailouts lol4rl), I can do whatever I want, as long as I don’t hurt someone (I can’t kill/rape/ anyone, I can’t run red lights because that would hurt someone), no one patrols my thoughts, and I have freedom of speech.

If liking that makes me a libertarian, then yes I’m a libertarian on Fluther.

If you mean libertarian as in things such as prostitution and drug use should be legal because they aren’t hurting anyone else except the person doing those things, then I’m probably not a libertarian because I could argue that those things can harm others.

@queenz: If you think that the USA has a libertarian government, I think it’s a safe bet that you’re not a libertarian.
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I’m not a upper-case Libertarian, but I have my share of lower-case libertarian leanings. (I do see that your question is lower-case, and that pleases me. I like that the lowercase version doesn’t lock one in to a political affiliation.)

@aidje Oh I don’t think we have a libertarian government, I was just comparing the government of the USA to the examples blondesjon used in the details as libertarianism.

@queenz… Drugs and prostitution should be legal because we currently fight a meaningless war against them. We hemmorage money combating something a community, if left to their own devices, would root out 99% of the time. This also means no Universal Health Care (I know. I don’t like it either but I’m proving a point.) it means the government has no right to tell you how to live your life, including what doctor you should see or how you pay for it. It means no welfare programs. Before you gasp I again would like to point out the fact that communities, if finally left to their own devices, would get together and take care their own in need. We’ve had a huge, antiquated, unweildly, centralized government making our decisions for us for so long that we’ve been convinced we can’t live without them. Well, I have enough faith in people that I think we can figure it out on our own, in our own way.

And queenz, if you think you have true freedom of speech, perhaps you should trying raising your voice, in dissent, at one of the republican or democratic conventions. Or at a press conference “don’t razr me bro” I love America because it is supposed to be based on freedom and we have been lacking that a long time.

@Blondesjon: I would like to point out the act that when my mother was raising all three of us on welfare our community actively tried to have us put in foster care and my mother jailed because they didn’t like her being a Christian and feeding us natural organic foods (I couldn’t make that up if I tried. They thought she was judging them all the time. Couldn’t have been further from the truth.). They got their children to accuse her of molesting them on our couch and beating us. The part that exposed their lie and kept me in a loving home, was funnily enough, we hadn’t been able to afford a couch in two years. My community also tolerated regular KKK rallies in the field behind our apartment complex. I don’t think they would have reached out to little old me, the white girl making friends with the Puerto Rican children.

I call bullshit on communities. One on one humans have the capacity for compassion and friendship, people however are fucking idiots.

Freedom of speech is not an issue at those conventions, or even in the John Kerry example you mentioned. The people at the conventions are exercising their right to assemble and right to free speech. If you go there just to kick up dirt, you’re just being a jackass. The group there has a right to shut you up. It’s not your clubhouse.

The kid who got tazed did just that, he went in with the intention of pissing off and confronting John Kerry, he disrupted the event, disrespected the man on stage and his fellow audience members and was removed for being a nuisance. Not because of his views. But because of how he did it. Kerry didn’t have to answer and he didn’t, so the guy barreled on.

I think this post sounds kind of bitter, and that wasn’t my intention. I just don’t like it when I hear that communities will take care of themselves. In my experience, that isn’t the case. Not by a long shot.

@asmonet…I feel for your situation but you must know for every shitty example there is a shining example of how people will pull together to help others. Remember foster care and other such programs are government programs. I’m not saying that libertarianism is utopian. I’m only trying to wake people up to the fact that we live with an illusion of freedom. As far as freedom of speech is concerned, everyone has a right to say what they want. I don’t care if it’s the KKK or Mother Theresa. You have the right to not listen. As soon as one person says “Hey, that guy’s a jackass. He can’t say that!” you open the door for someone who disagrees with you to say the same and censor you.

The thing I don’t like about the left is that they want to control what I do with my money. The thing I don’t like about the right is that they want to control what I do with my body. Neither of these is particularly tolerable. Some say that this makes me a small-L libertarian.

I don’t vote for Libertarians much because they tend to be frustrated Republicans.

What separates me from a lot of mainline libertarian-leaning folks is that I do see a reason for more taxation than they do. I don’t want to pay a road toll at every corner, so let’s just pool our resources and build the roads. (Or better yet, the car companies should have paid for roads, much like the railroad companies had to pay to lay down train tracks – but I digress.) I also don’t want to have to pay individually for a police investigation if I’m robbed, for example. Also, I do like having a social safety net, which most Libertarians don’t favor.

I lean libertarian, but I only lean so far…

At least with our government when the people fail at being humans the government picks up the slack.

@asmonet…I’d like an example of that.
@laureth…As do I.

I’m basically a libertarian, although I’m not a person who subscribes to labels. Living in Canada, there are a lot of things I can see where problems exist. Such as our ridiculous amount of taxes for such massive social services and subsidies that should not exist. I am also a big fan of the free market and entrepreneurship.

Here’s a quick example: in Ottawa, the city-run bus service has been on strike for 5 weeks now. The citizens of Ottawa have been paying for years now, via property taxes, to subsidize the bus system. No other bus system is allowed to exist here. But for the past five weeks, there has been no bus service and no other system can come in and provide it, in fact you can be charged by the police for offering rides for compensation. Do we get money back then from our taxes? Oh hells no! In fact, the taxes are going up close to 5 percent this year, thanks to “No Means No” Mayor Larry O’Brien (who was elected primarily due to his pledge of no tax increases). In fact, the bus service is lacking even while running – and the simple truth is that if competition were allowed, another bus company would begin to provide what the public wants, and force our local transit to get better or cease to exist. Ultimately, the citizen would benefit the most, and that’s what the city should have in mind when it takes the citizens’ tax money.

With regards to the health system, I support a basic socialized health care system, supplemented by both public and private clinics. One thing that disgusts me with America’s current system is that if a person who by no fault of their own gets injured, they could be left with the massive medical bills which may likely hamper their life from that point out. If a pedestrian is mowed over by a drunk driver, and that pedestrian has no insurance, that person should not be forced to fork over thousands of dollars in medical care costs. To me, forcing them to pay for something that they did not cause to happen is equal to enslavement. That said though, Canada’s current health system is just like a rotten grub – bloated, gross, and disgusting. The government’s refusal to allow for competition has lead to hospital and surgery wait times that are ridiculous and shameful. By allowing private clinics to exist, those who have money and choose to spend it can do so – ultimately this will ease the burden on the public system. Those that do not have money will be left with less crowded hospitals, as well as charity clinics. As Blondesjon has said, charity left to its own device will provide for the sick and needy and the weak and whoever else may need help – institutionalized charity only leads to corruption and bloated administration fees.

I have the right to do whatever I want with my person, and other persons who consent, so long as it does not affect your right to do the same. If a man wants to cohabitate with twenty consenting women, if a man wants to consume food/drink/drug X, who is anyone to say he can’t. I also have the right to defend myself and my property with force if needed – the world is a nasty place and I will not let it take advantage of me.

@dynamicduo – Hopefully, the person who was run over by the drunk would be able to sue the drunk, who ought to pay the bills. It is wrong (imho) for the innocent pedestrian to be charged for his care, but it is also wrong (again, imho) for the drunk to make the public pay for his crime.

@laureth…I lurve the word quandry.

@Blondesjon: Exhibit A.

Registered Republican, but Adam Smith and Thomas Sowell resonate to me and if the Libertarian Party were viable, I would be on board. GI like the question.