I occasionally call myself a libertarian, though I'd expand enough on what government is good for (to include insurance and pollution control as well defense and justice) to push me into some odd leftie version of that. Famously (and appealingly) enough, libertarians prefer to complain about the government than do stuff about stuff, and who can blame them when you think about what governments do with power?
IOZ (shhh, I'm trolling for his readers) had some fun picking on the Democrats today. Yeah, sure, easy targets, what with showing their bellies to the president, proving themselves yet again tools to executive power, waiting their turn. Fucking party politicians: the lure of being a high-level appartchik is evidently stronger than retaining some Constitutionally declared powers for your own house. You'd think that with enough popular demand, the appeal of keeping one's seat would trump presidential awe, but tell that to Ned Lamont. Anyway, IOZ mocked the various netroots goobers for being fooled again. Most important election ever --> horrible policies --> we need more and better Democrats! Lather, rinse, repeat.
But then again, I remember the libertarians complaining ten years ago about the nanny state, whose jack-booted drug-stealing thugs ended up being a lot more subtle than their most dire warnings. The support for the (allegedly) small-government conservatives (never mind the racism and Jesus-throttling and fiscal idiocy) was not always implicit. They've got their useless cycle too, as do the conservatives, with the difference that libertarians don't get to enact their own horrible policies. So I fixed the figure. Hope it helps. I made a bulleted list of what I care about politically, but I'll save it for when I'm in the mood. Suffice to say that I'll continue to vote for the party that is marginally closer to achieving some of them, and failing that, I'll vote to poke the incumbents in the eye. It's not like any of these assholes is about to swap a trillion dollar war for public health insurance and science research anytime soon. Those wheels just keep spinning each other around like a hot-air powered aeropile.
What do all those gears grind? Sausage, I guess. Politics.
[Sorry, I'm behind in my reading.]
7 comments:
love the title of this post, dude.
i've been incubating a post on libertarians and their isms for some time now and it's refusing to hatch. i'll see what i can do about that.
dlwgzw: double-glazed windows will save us all
lhfznkqc: lefthanded frenzied kentucky quarreling chickens
It's probably better than the post. Plus, it might get me that coveted NC-17 rating.
Look forward to the isms.
K (1. they just might, and 2. can we still fry 'em?)
I understand where you're coming from, K, but too many self-identified libertarians are really just ultra-conservative conservatives--death to government, free market will solve anything, etc., etc., ad nauseum. I've read enough of your stuff to know you're really one of us--a bleeding heart liberal. You might as well plaster your hybrid hippie-wagon with Mike Gravel stickers, douse yourself with patchouli, and follow the rest of us down to the "Enough" rally on Sunday.
I'm only joking a little. Also, fur is murder.
Do the organizers serve drinks?
There are a lot of deeply unserious libertarians (I will enjoy ripping on a cato guy next post if it writes like I think it will), but that goes for any self-identified group.
K (hey, who's had enough?)
cato? those people are living in another universe. rip away. or fry them. in organic, trans-fat-free oil, of course.
your post is likely to be better than mine. besides, now you've distracted me with the everglades.
aqkealuo: a little-known hawaiian island
Okay. I was going to finish it tonight, but I don't have it in me. I think I need to write about science when I'm doing my damndest to avoid performing it.
K
i hear ya. you should see all the stuff i'm not writing about the everglades tonight.
science
aztqnlkl: aztec nickels
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