Social Question

deadleaf's avatar

Could you be libertarian?

Asked by deadleaf (212points) May 28th, 2010

Explain what YOU want in a society and not what your current party describes as leftist, right wing, or liberal.

Here are Libertarian basic principals:

o Substantially reduce the size and intrusiveness of government and cut all taxes.
o Let peaceful, honest people offer their goods and services to willing consumers without a hassle from government.
o Let peaceful, honest people decide for themselves what to eat, drink, read, or smoke and how to dress, medicate themselves, or make love, without fear of criminal penalties.
o The U.S. government should defend Americans and their property in America and let the U.S. taxpayer off the hook for the defense bill of wealthy countries like Germany and Japan.

…to name a few.

Enjoy this link, and take it lightly please.
http://www.theadvocates.org/quiz

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8 Answers

gemiwing's avatar

No, I’m not. I don’t believe that corporations left to their own devices will chose the good of mankind over profit margins.

Businesses should be regulated responsibly and taxed fairly.
Individuals should all have the same rights.
Close the tax loopholes that allow the wealthiest people/corps to hide money.
Expand welfare to cover the working poor.
Universal government run healthcare for every single person.
Allow looser immigration rules/cut red tape for law-abiding people to pay taxes here and receive benefits of citizenship- such as education.
Green/sustainable energy should be heavily funded and implemented.

Kraigmo's avatar

I respect Libertarians because if everyone lived up to their ideals, there’d be no need for government regulations on anything. They are honest people, and they project that honesty outward, assuming most everyone else is, too.

But I do not trust humanity to run corporations with no regulations. And I do not trust all landowners who live upstream.

Some humans, and some corporations would destroy the future, for quick and short-term gain.

augustlan's avatar

The Libertarian version of utopia, much like the Communist (or any other) version of utopia, is unattainable. The main impediment is human nature. People suck.

ratboy's avatar

I’m too noisy to be a librarian.

Seek's avatar

I’m far too socialist to be libertarian.

Cruiser's avatar

@Kraigmo pretty much nailed it but I would add that people overall are not stupid and would self police themselves like we used to if given the chance. Today’s mindset has everyone relying on the Government….let the Government solve the problem! Who really fixes the problems??? PEOPLE! Take away the government ID’s and what do you have??PEOPLE!! Give back responsibility to the PEOPLE and PEOPLE will solve the problems.

The minute you apply any type of government responsibility to any situation you inject beaurocracy and bog down the response. Katrina and the oil spill is a perfect examples of this…look what happens when you wait and expect the Gov to solve those problems!! Who really is doing the work in those situations??? PEOPLE! People cleaned up and are STILL cleaning up Kartrina’s mess….PEOPLE are mopping up the oil on the beaches and marshes of the gulf right now while BO plays golf and the rest of the Government stumbles because of the beaurocracy involved to make any form of decision.

No there is not an quick easy answer to this issue but I know for a fact the founding fathers of this country engineered the constitution to implicitly prevent the very form of government we now have and it is a crying shame we have let it get this far.

SmashTheState's avatar

If you absolutely must use the term Libertarian to describe that political and economic system, please capitalize it. “Libertarian” was first coined to describe Pierre-Joseph Proudhon, an anarchosyndicalist, and I can assure you that he would cheerfully have beaten Ayn Rand to death with a clawhammer while singing the Marseillaise. I am an anarchist, and I speak for a great many of us when I ask you to kindly stop poisoning the word “libertarian” with your capitalist dogma.

Neizvestnaya's avatar

No way, I’d be much closer to a dictator. I like the idea of having a birth policy like China did for many years instituted here in the states, I have strong opinions about the quality of foods that should be offered consumers outside of grocery shopping and my ideas on capital punishment and euthanasia would probably be really unpopular. People like me aren’t supposed to be given much social power.

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