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Title: Why Radical Libertarians Are the New Communists
Source: evonomics.com
URL Source: http://evonomics.com/why-libertarians-are-the-new-communists/
Published: Jun 21, 2016
Author: Nick Hanauer and Eric Liu
Post Date: 2018-07-10 03:51:55 by Gatlin
Keywords: None
Views: 1568
Comments: 36

A toxic strand of a political ideology.

Most people would consider radical libertarianism and communism polar opposites: The first glorifies personal freedom. The second would obliterate it. Yet the ideologies are simply mirror images. Both attempt to answer the same questions, and fail to do so in similar ways. Where communism was adopted, the result was misery, poverty and tyranny. If extremist libertarians ever translated their beliefs into policy, it would lead to the same kinds of catastrophe.

Let’s start with some definitions. By radical libertarianism, we mean the ideology that holds that individual liberty trumps all other values. By communism, we mean the ideology of extreme state domination of private and economic life.

Some of the radical libertarians are Ayn Rand fans who divide their fellow citizens into makers, in the mold of John Galt, and takers, in the mold of anyone not John Galt.

Some, such as the Koch brothers, are economic royalists who repackage trickle- down economics as “libertarian populism.” Some are followers of Texas Senator Ted Cruz, whose highest aspiration is to shut down government. Some resemble the anti-tax activist Grover Norquist, who has made a career out of trying to drown, stifle or strangle government.

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Enter Your Email Yes, liberty is a core American value, and an overweening state can be unhealthy. And there are plenty of self-described libertarians who have adopted the label mainly because they support same-sex marriage or decry government surveillance. These social libertarians aren’t the problem. It is the nihilist anti-state libertarians of the Koch-Cruz-Norquist-Paul (Ron and Rand alike) school who should worry us.

Human Nature

Like communism, this philosophy is defective in its misreading of human nature, misunderstanding of how societies work and utter failure to adapt to changing circumstances. Radical libertarianism assumes that humans are wired only to be selfish, when in fact cooperation is the height of human evolution. It assumes that societies are efficient mechanisms requiring no rules or enforcers, when, in fact, they are fragile ecosystems prone to collapse and easily overwhelmed by free-riders. And it is fanatically rigid in its insistence on a single solution to every problem: Roll back the state!

Communism failed in three strikingly similar ways. It believed that humans should be willing cogs serving the proletariat. It assumed that societies could be run top-down like machines. And it, too, was fanatically rigid in its insistence on an all- encompassing ideology, leading to totalitarianism.

Radical libertarianism, if ever put into practice at the scale of something bigger than a tiny enclave, would also be a disaster.

We say the conditional “would” because radical libertarianism has a fatal flaw: It can’t be applied across a functioning society. What might radical libertarians do if they actually had power? A President Paul would rule by tantrum, shutting down the government in order to repeal laws already passed by Congress. A Secretary Norquist would eliminate the Internal Revenue Service and progressive taxation, so that the already wealthy could exponentially compound their advantage, as the programs that sustain a prosperous middle class are gutted. A Koch domestic policy would obliterate environmental standards for clean air and water, so that polluters could externalize all their costs onto other people.

Radical libertarians would be great at destroying. They would have little concept of creating or governing. It is in failed states such as Somalia that libertarianism finds its fullest actual expression.

Extreme Positions

Some libertarians will claim we are arguing against a straw man and that no serious adherent to their philosophy advocates the extreme positions we describe. The public record of extreme statements by the likes of Cruz, Norquist and the Pauls speaks for itself. Reasonable people debate how best to regulate or how government can most effectively do its work — not whether to regulate at all or whether government should even exist.

The alternative to this extremism is an evolving blend of freedom and cooperation. The relationship between social happiness and economic success can be plotted on a bell curve, and the sweet spot is away from the extremes of either pure liberty or pure communitarianism. That is where true citizenship and healthy capitalism are found.

True citizenship enables a society to thrive for precisely the reasons that communism and radical libertarianism cannot. It is based on a realistic conception of human nature that recognizes we must cooperate to be able compete at higher levels. True citizenship means changing policy to adapt to changes in circumstance. Sometimes government isn’t the answer. Other times it is.

If the U.S. is to continue to adapt and evolve, we have to see that freedom isn’t simply the removal of encumbrance, or the ability to ignore inconvenient rules or limitations. Freedom is responsibility. Communism failed because it kept citizens from taking responsibility for governing themselves. By preaching individualism above all else, so does radical libertarianism.

It is one thing to oppose intrusive government surveillance or the overreach of federal programs. It is another to call for the evisceration of government itself. Let’s put radical libertarianism into the dustbin of history, along with its cousin communism.

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Begin Trace Mode for Comment # 23.

#1. To: Gatlin (#0)

Oh lookie here - another rabid hit piece against libertarians.

Reasonable people debate how best to regulate or how government can most effectively do its work — not whether to regulate at all or whether government should even exist.

libertarians are not in favor of eliminating government altogether. Statists on the other hand want total government control. Apparently you fall into this camp since all of your recent hit-pieces have been disparaging of limited government.

Schmuck!

Deckard  posted on  2018-07-10   6:34:44 ET  Reply   Untrace   Trace   Private Reply  


#2. To: Deckard (#1)

Oh lookie here - another rabid hit piece against libertarians.
And it’s a great one too....read it very carefully.

Oh, keep watching....there will be more rabid hit pieces on a daily basis.

Gatlin  posted on  2018-07-10   6:52:35 ET  Reply   Untrace   Trace   Private Reply  


#5. To: Gatlin (#2)

...there will be more rabid hit pieces on a daily basis.

Rabid: extreme, fanatical, overzealous, extremist, maniacal.

Seek help psycho.

Deckard  posted on  2018-07-10   8:09:54 ET  Reply   Untrace   Trace   Private Reply  


#6. To: Deckard (#5)

...there will be more rabid hit pieces on a daily basis.

Rabid: extreme, fanatical, overzealous, extremist, maniacal.

Absolutely, those adjectives are used to describe libertarians in many of the articles.
Seek help psycho.
Nah. I can handle the task alone, thank you.

Gatlin  posted on  2018-07-10   8:30:58 ET  Reply   Untrace   Trace   Private Reply  


#7. To: Gatlin (#6) (Edited)

Rabid: extreme, fanatical, overzealous, extremist, maniacal.

Absolutely, those adjectives are used to describe libertarians in many of the articles.

Bullshit! You used the term to describe yourself and your articles statist clown.

Did a libertarian steal your girlfriend in high school?

Deckard  posted on  2018-07-10   8:38:25 ET  Reply   Untrace   Trace   Private Reply  


#8. To: Deckard (#7)

Did a libertarian steal your girlfriend in high school?
Libertarians STEAL?

Gatlin  posted on  2018-07-10   9:58:30 ET  Reply   Untrace   Trace   Private Reply  


#10. To: Gatlin (#8)

Did a libertarian steal your girlfriend in high school?

Libertarians STEAL?

Don't be an asshat - just because your GF found someone better.

You just don't have a clue, do you Gatlin.

First you ignorantly claim that libertarians are White Supremacists, now it's commies.

What next - calling libertarians "terrorists"?

Your obsession is no longer bordering on insanity - you've gone way past that point.

Deckard  posted on  2018-07-10   10:12:51 ET  Reply   Untrace   Trace   Private Reply  


#13. To: Deckard (#10)

First you ignorantly claim that libertarians are White Supremacists, now it's commies.

That’s a BOLFD FACE libertarian lie....I made NO such claim.

Gatlin  posted on  2018-07-10   13:26:46 ET  Reply   Untrace   Trace   Private Reply  


#15. To: Gatlin (#13)

First you ignorantly claim that libertarians are White Supremacists, now it's commies.

That’s a BOLFD FACE libertarian lie....I made NO such claim.

Two of the articles you posted expressed that very same viewpoint.

Deckard  posted on  2018-07-10   13:36:25 ET  Reply   Untrace   Trace   Private Reply  


#18. To: Deckard (#15)

First you ignorantly claim that libertarians are White Supremacists, now it's commies. That’s a BOLFD FACE libertarian lie....I made NO such claim. Two of the articles you posted expressed that very same viewpoint.
Yes, two articles made that claim....I never did.

So, you did tell a BOLD FACE libertarian lie.

Gatlin  posted on  2018-07-10   14:16:40 ET  Reply   Untrace   Trace   Private Reply  


#19. To: Gatlin (#18) (Edited)

Yes, two articles made that claim....I never did.

Yada, yada, yada.

You have never posted an article slamming libertarians that you don't agree with.

Deckard  posted on  2018-07-10   14:17:40 ET  Reply   Untrace   Trace   Private Reply  


#22. To: Deckard (#19)

You have never posted an article slamming libertarians that you don't agree with.
Pure speculation....you do a lot of that.

Gatlin  posted on  2018-07-10   15:03:58 ET  Reply   Untrace   Trace   Private Reply  


#23. To: Everybody (#22)

CHURCH REPORTEDLY EVICTED FROM BUILDING AFTER POSTING ANTI-LGBTQ SIGN
It’s unclear whether a sign that said "LGBTQ is a hate crime against God. Repent," is what got the Remnant Fellowship Church in Auburn, Indiana forced out of their building, but the Church confirmed it was evicted from the area last week according to local online news source, wane.com.

The sign sparked outrage among members of the community after many people drove by the sign, according NewsChannel 15. The story included a statement from church elder Robert Sturges, who said, "We're trying to reach a certain group of people. They're being told in our culture that homosexuality, transvestites, lesbianism and sexual immorality is ok. But the Bible clearly says that those who practice these things will not inherit the Kingdom of God. In fact, it warns them that the wrath of God will abide upon them. And in the judgment, they will be lost and they will be sent to hell forever. We believe that. That's our faith."

Sturges also said he arranged the sign to mention the LGBTQ cimmunity as a reminder that the church would save people, in a ABC-affiliate WPTA21 report. When news of the sign hit social media, one woman went out and changed the sign to say “Stay open minded.” Reports from The Hill suggested the church also appeared to delete its Facebook page where it initially defended the sign.

The landlord of the building, representatives of the Remnant Fellowship Church, local members of the LGBTQ community and surrounding insititutions were unavailable for comment by deadline. The situation follows a week celebrating the LGBTQ community across the nation.

It is EXACTLY as I said:

“It’s unclear whether a sign that said "LGBTQ is a hate crime against God. Repent," is what got the Remnant Fellowship Church in Auburn, Indiana forced out of their building.”

Gatlin  posted on  2018-07-10   15:17:30 ET  Reply   Untrace   Trace   Private Reply  


Replies to Comment # 23.

#25. To: Gatlin, Deckard (#23)

It’s unclear whether a sign that said "LGBTQ is a hate crime against God. Repent," is what got the Remnant Fellowship Church in Auburn, Indiana forced out of their building, but the Church confirmed it was evicted from the area last week according to local online news source, wane.com.

WANE.com reported that the church had "vacated" the building. That does not support the implausible claim of an eviction for which there was insufficient time for the legal requirements.

https://www.wane.com/news/local-news/church-that-put-out-anti-lgbtq-sign-appears-to-have-vacated-building/1288132640

Church that put out anti-LGBTQ sign appears to have vacated building

By:
Lorraine Taylor
Posted: Jul 07, 2018 12:11 AM EDT
Updated: Jul 07, 2018 12:11 AM EDT

nolu chan  posted on  2018-07-10 17:09:44 ET  Reply   Untrace   Trace   Private Reply  


End Trace Mode for Comment # 23.

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