Well, an EPautos Libertarian Lexicon!
I get asked frequently about the meaning of some commonly used terms, known to EPautos regulars but less well-known to people new to this corner of the Libertarian universe. These form the core lingua franca of the dialogue here, but much more important, they serve as a convenient shorthand for conveying certain concepts easily and efficiently – without the need to go into a long explanation. Ideally, they will become anti-authoritarian/pro-liberty memes.
Help spread the word!
* Clover –
The root cause of every affront to liberty. The spoonful of shit that ruins a gallon of ice cream. Clovers do not believe in live and let live. They believe in telling others how to live – at gunpoint, if necessary. Clovers can’t abide the organic society, voluntary interaction or free exchange.
You are not free to disagree with a Clover.
They always have “plans” and speak in terms of “we” – as if you agreed to their plans. As if they have the right to speak for you.
A Clover will speak of “our children” when he means your children.
Clovers believe that their feelings about what “someone” might do justify imposing restrictions on people who haven’t actually done anything to cause harm to anyone.
Clovers believe in group guilt – and that you are guilty until you prove yourself innocent.
Clovers believe the end (their end, whatever they deem worthwhile) always justifies the means.
A Clover isn’t stopped in his tracks by a moral principle; for example, that it’s wrong to presume every driver on a given stretch of road is a “dangerous drunk” until he proves to the satisfaction of a cop that he isn’t.
Clovers believe that constructs such as “society” have rights – but actual human beings don’t.
They believe “there ought to be a law.”
Clovers think it’s ok to take your money if it’s called “taxes.”
They like to “help” others… with other people’s money.
Clovers think people are too irresponsible and foolish to be trusted to govern themselves – but put limitless trust in people once adorned with special titles and costumes.
Clovers consider other people their property – as evidence by their limitless desire to control other people, even to the extent of dictating to them what they may do with their own bodies.
A Clover will decree how much soda you may purchase. He favors “sin” taxes – on the things he happens not to like.
Most rank-and-file Clovers are bullies and busybodies but also cowards who hide behind euphemisms (see above regarding “taxes”) and the ballot box. They are not bold enough to actually take other people’s things themselves and shy away from telling other people what to do – such as personally telling their neighbor to “buckle up for safety” – but are eager to vote to have others perform this work on their behalf.
Clovers are generally only dangerous in herds.
* Hero –
An armed government worker.
Can be costumed or not. Usually identifiable by shaved head, opaque sunglasses and hair-trigger confrontational demeanor.
The domestic variant enforces the state’s edicts upon the population; the export version enforces the state’s will upon foreign populations.
Both populaces have been conditioned to servility and reverence in the presence of either.
Preferred honorifics are “officer” and “sir.”
Domestic Heroes keep us “safe” by taking away our freedoms. Export Heroes take away the lives of foreigners in order to “keep us free.”
It is forbidden to “resist” a Hero.
To criticize Heroes (particularly the export variants) is “unpatriotic.”
Heroes form a Praetorian caste with special privileges; they are subject to more lenient standards of behavior and accountability in the performance of their “duties.” A domestic Hero may, for example, recklessly discharge a firearm and not be jailed or even charged for this while a non-Hero will usually be charged with multiple felonies and face years in prison for the same or lesser conduct.
Heroes receive paid vacation when under investigation for potentially criminal conduct.
A Hero fired for abusing his authority in one locality is free to seek employment as a Hero in a another locality.
The “safety” of Heroes is paramount. Everything else – including our lives – is of secondary importance.
All Heroes must be “thanked for their service.”
Repeatedly.
* Uncle –
The secular deity of the United States. The incarnation/personification of the federal government. He acts in loco parentis over “children” who will never be emancipated, no matter how old they grow.
At birth, we are assigned a number by Uncle – never to be used for purposes of identification, without which it is impossible to obtain identification.
Or legal employment. Or open a bank account.
Or do much of anything.
Like Santa Claus, Uncle knows when you are sleeping, he knows when you’re awake …. except Uncle has a gun.
Lots of guns.
Uncle has assumed the power to do pretty much anything he likes. From ordering us to buy health insurance (but not necessarily get medical treatment) to decreeing how many miles-per-gallon our next new car will deliver.
Uncle claims we have consented to abide by his edicts because we have been given the opportunity to vote for one of his priests, who tell us what to do on behalf of Uncle.
Even if we voted for neither.
* Saaaaaafety –
The Magic Word that justifies … everything.
It’s even more effective than equality – which it subsumes – because everyone must be kept safe.
No matter what. And no matter the cost – in money or liberty.
It is a Clover’s favorite word.
It his meme.
Let’s change that up.
#1: tpaine To: Canary clan members at LF.... (#0)
Canary -
The root cause of every affront to liberty. The spoonful of shit that ruins a gallon of ice cream. Canaries do not believe in live and let live. They believe in telling others how to live – at gunpoint, if necessary.
And, -- Canaries believe the State has the power to bann citizens guns.
tpaine posted on 2016-06-28 07:46:24 Reply Private Reply
#2: Gatlin To: Deckard (#0)
Help spread the word ...
Gatlin posted on 2016-06-28 07:53:18 Reply Private Reply
#3: tpaine To: Gatlin, the head canary at LF. -- Say it isn't so... (#2)
The root cause of every affront to liberty. The spoonful of shit that ruins a gallon of ice cream. Canaries do not believe in live and let live. They believe in telling others how to live – at gunpoint, if necessary.
And, -- Canaries believe the State has the power to bann citizens guns.
tpaine posted on 2016-06-28 07:57:49 Reply Private Reply
#4: Deckard To: Gatlin, hondo68, buckeroo, sneakypete, (#2)
Also known as *Canary
Deckard posted on 2016-06-28 08:02:58 Reply Private Reply
#5: misterwhite To: Deckard (#0)
Nah. A hero is the brave and struggling single mom (the more children the better) ... whose repeated stupid decisions put her and her spawn on the welfare rolls and in the prison system forever.
A hero is the aspiring college student, racking up tens of thousands of dollars in debt ... to get a worthless degree in some social studies program, then expecting the rest of us to forgive the loan.
A hero is the unappreciated worker, asking for $15 an hour (for starters) ... despite the fact that he's barely worth what he's being paid today and, along with others, will be fired.
But the real heroes are our teachers in the public school system ... too busy indoctrinating our children with the liberal agenda instead of educating them, then using the excuse that they're not paid enough -- despite the fact that their salaries and pensions are bankrupting cities and states.
misterwhite posted on 2016-06-28 09:16:36 Reply Private Reply
#6: paraclete To: Deckard (#0)
paraclete posted on 2016-06-28 09:25:28 Reply Private Reply
#7: Hondo68 To: Deckard, tpaine, Fred Mertz (#4)
Clover Canary
Hondo68 posted on 2016-06-28 14:02:49 Reply Private Reply
#8: ConservingFreedom To: Gatlin (#2)
Help spread the word ... A link to a Google page with 976,000 results is the furthest thing from an argument.
Nut up and give us your own thoughts. Or not.
ConservingFreedom posted on 2016-06-28 14:13:44 Reply Private Reply
#9: Gatlin To: ConservingFreedom (#8)
My own thoughts can be easily summed up on this political philosophy held by a small group of malcontent and misfit Paultards seeking their “libertarian utopia” … a world of liberty in which everyone is a sovereign individual with control over their own lives and in no way is anyone ever forced to sacrifice a single one of their values for the mutual benefit of others. I will do so now.
I look at this insignificant group and think that the best single fault I can find with libertarianism is that it has never worked. There are no libertarian countries. If it is such a “great” thing, that libertarians believe they understand how to properly organize a modern society, then why is it that not a single country in the entire world is now successfully organized along libertarian lines? You would think that out of the almost 200 nation states around the world, there would be at least one country that has successfully tried it. Yet we can not find a country that has free trade, wide open borders, with no drugs criminalized and minimal government with no welfare system or public education system.
I am someone who stays focused on reaching a practical and realistic goal in a straightforward, matter-of-fact manner. I guess that may describe a pragmatist. I will need to be shown where libertarianism has successfully worked on a large scale and then I may have some basis for its acceptance.
Libertarianism has never worked. The latest count I can find shows there are 411,250 voters registered as Libertarian in the 27 states and Washington, D.C. ... Dude, that is one pathetically low number and abysmal performance record dating back to the mid 1500s when Étienne de La Boétie founded the libertarian political philosophy.
Gatlin posted on 2016-06-28 16:19:46 Reply Private Reply
#10: tpaine To: Gatlin, chief cheeper, makes the canary clan look bad, once again. (#9)
Poor confused gatlin is essentially describing our republican form of government, as it was for approx our first hundred years.
tpaine posted on 2016-06-28 16:33:41 Reply Private Reply
#11: ConservingFreedom To: Gatlin (#9)
I am reminded of the Chesterton quote: "Christianity has not been tried and found wanting; it has been found difficult and not tried."
Much the same can be said for all third parties - many voters are taken in by the 'throwing your vote away' fallacy:
ConservingFreedom posted on 2016-06-28 17:25:13 Reply Private Reply
#12: ConservingFreedom To: tpaine (#10)
Good catch! (Not sure about the "free trade" part - I believe America has had significant tariffs for much of its history.)
ConservingFreedom posted on 2016-06-28 17:27:27 Reply Private Reply
#13: GrandIsland To: misterwhite (#5)
You just described what a "Paultard hero" is
Good post.
GrandIsland posted on 2016-06-28 17:31:19 Reply Private Reply
#14: Gatlin To: tpaine (#10)
I have no stomach to try and digest your heaping helping of historical revisionism. It is ludicrous if you are claiming that our country was established by some libertarians who were setting up a toothless national government.
This idea that the Founding Fathers ever set out to construct a regime totally opposed to regulations and granting complete individual freedom to everyone is really laughable.
Our founding fathers had no intention to ever give Americans a hands-off government. They just wanted to make sure the hands were to be our own through a Representative Republic. You Paultards continue to ignore this and are entitled to have your own bizarre view of freedom ... but don’t try to force it on me since I choose not to accept your views.
Gatlin posted on 2016-06-28 17:36:13 Reply Private Reply
#15: tpaine To: ConservingFreedom, gatlin, y'all (#12)
I was aware of our tariff system in early America, and hoped gatlin would jump on that fact. -- That's why I qualified my remarks.
But as usual, gatlin is too chickenshit to even respond when left an opening.
He's a joke as the intellectual he pretends to be..
tpaine posted on 2016-06-28 17:37:12 Reply Private Reply
#16: ConservingFreedom To: GrandIsland (#13)
Wrong as always, mouthbreather - the Pauls are against welfare, student loan subsidies, minimum wage laws, and government education.
ConservingFreedom posted on 2016-06-28 17:37:45 Reply Private Reply
#17: GrandIsland To: ConservingFreedom (#16)
GrandIsland posted on 2016-06-28 17:44:16 Reply Private Reply
#18: ConservingFreedom To: GrandIsland (#17)
Put up or shut up: quote a single who professes to be a libertarian or Paul supporter but who blames government for welfare or student debt.
ConservingFreedom posted on 2016-06-28 17:47:39 Reply Private Reply
#19: tpaine To: Gatlin (#14)
Poor confused gatlin is essentially describing our republican form of government, as it was for approx our first hundred years.
The idea that you put forth, that they set out to construct a regime like the one we 'enjoy' today is even more ludicrous.
The Founding Fathers set out to construct a republican form of government, opposed to unreasonable regulations and ACKNOWLEDGING that everyone should have individual freedoms, - - to life , liberty, and property.
And that ain't laughable.
tpaine posted on 2016-06-28 17:50:39 Reply Private Reply
#20: ConservingFreedom To: Gatlin (#14)
No, they also took pains to ensure that the federal government was limited to a limited set of enumerated powers.
ConservingFreedom posted on 2016-06-28 17:54:28 Reply Private Reply
#21: Gatlin To: ConservingFreedom (#20)
Of course they did.
Gatlin posted on 2016-06-28 17:58:47 Reply Private Reply
#22: Gatlin To: tpaine (#19)
That is true, but that ain't no "libertarian government" ... Hank.
that is still a Representative Republic form of goverhment.
Gatlin posted on 2016-06-28 18:00:31 Reply Private Reply
#23: Gatlin To: tpaine (#15)
Bullshit ... an after thought statement.
Gatlin posted on 2016-06-28 18:24:04 Reply Private Reply
#24: tpaine To: Gatlin (#22)
Poor confused gatlin is essentially describing our republican form of government, as it was for approx our first hundred years.
The idea that you put forth, that they set out to construct a regime like the one we 'enjoy' today is even more ludicrous.
The Founding Fathers set out to construct a republican form of government, opposed to unreasonable regulations and ACKNOWLEDGING that everyone should have individual freedoms, - - to life , liberty, and property.
Read much ? I never claimed it was, as anyone can see above.
You've got your terminology, I've mine. -- Doesn't change the facts, as you admit.
Thanks, and you're excused. -- Go back to quibbling and playing backslapping with grandisland.
tpaine posted on 2016-06-28 18:25:31 Reply Private Reply
#25: buckeroo To: Gatlin (#22)
Gatlin -
America isn't any more representative than Russia's antiquated gulags. You just happen to
thinkdream you are one of the selected few that keep the rest of us in check because you peeled potatoes in the US Air Force for twenty years.buckeroo posted on 2016-06-28 20:56:15 Reply Private Reply
#26: ConservingFreedom To: Gatlin (#22)
A Representative Republic form of government can't be libertarian?
ConservingFreedom posted on 2016-06-29 00:02:28 Reply Private Reply