*Of Course* Libertarians Are Leading the Charge Against Trump's Authoritarianism

Source: Reason
Published: Feb 2, 2017
Author: Nick Gillespie
Post Date: 2017-02-15 06:36:19 by Gatlin
Views: 29034

The Guardian has pulled together five pieces from conservatives and libertarians who are critical of President Donald Trump's authoritarian tendencies and policies. I'm happy to be represented in the mix (for my commentary about Trump's awful, inhumane, and idiotic ban on refugees and travelers from seven countries tied to terrorism). It's a good mix of people, including some conservative critics (The New York Time's Ross Douthat, National Review's David French, Commentary's Noah Rothman) and Steve Horwitz of Bleeding Heart Libertarians along with yours truly. Here's a snippet from my piece:

That's certainly the case with Trump and his orders on sanctuary cities … and on immigration and refugee policy. The laws were not just poorly phrased and timed, they clearly will not work to address the basic issues they ostensibly are meant to ameliorate. As Anthony Fisher noted here earlier today, the US embassy in Iraq has said that Trump's action is a recruitment tool for jihadists, as pro- American Middle Easterners realize they're being hung out to dry. As for keeping America safe from terrorists entering the country as refugees, the fact is the country has an incredibly safe record.

Read the whole collection of pieces here.

Because no good deed or kind word can go unpunished, I'd like to add a bit of nuance to the way the writer, Jason Wilson, encapsulates his piece. Here's the headline and subhed:

Burst your bubble: five conservative articles to read as Trump riles libertarians

Some libertarians are reacting with alarm to Donald Trump's discriminatory executive orders, his authoritarian tendencies and international sabre-rattling

Yet the confusion is right there in headline: The "conservative articles" are the product of Trump "ril[ing] libertarians"? Wuh?

I just don't get the slowness with which people are fully grokking that libertarianism is as distinct from conservativism as it is from progressivism or leftism. I'm not trying to be pedantic or coy here, but there's a reason why libertarians (certainly those at Reason) were intensely critical of George W. Bush's executive branch overreach and Barack Obama's too, while conservatives and liberals generally stayed silent when their guy was doing the power grabbing. And so it makes total sense that libertarians are leading the attacks on Trump's attempts to be a one-man (or at least one-branch) government. Libertarianism is nothing if not the antithesis of authoritarianism. Always has been, always will be. Be sure to check out Reason's attitude toward whoever eventually replaces Trump. The minute he (or she) starts down an authoritarian road, we'll be on the case.

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#40: sneakypete    To: A K A Stone (#18)

One came to our high school back in the 80's. I thought they guy had a lot of weird ideas.

Do you base your opinion of all members of a political party on the public utterances of ONE of them?

Does John McLunatic or Lady Lindsey speak for you?

sneakypete posted on 2017-02-15 14:11:29   Reply   Private Reply


#41: sneakypete    To: misterwhite (#20)

Libertarians believe in moral relativism -- that there is no universal moral truth.

Really? Find me ONE prominent actual Libertarian that claims murder,rape,slavery,etc,etc,etc are all just peachy-keen.

Either that,or STFU about things you don't understand.

sneakypete posted on 2017-02-15 14:13:15   Reply   Private Reply


#42: sneakypete    To: Vicomte13 (#21)

But for longer-term prospects, Jesus made clear what we must do.

Be slaves to the Pope?

Teach little boys to bend over and grab their ankles when Priest enters the room?

sneakypete posted on 2017-02-15 14:14:42   Reply   Private Reply


#43: Gatlin    To: Deckard, A K A Stone (#15)

If you analyze it I believe the very heart and soul of conservatism is libertarianism. I think conservatism is really a misnomer just as liberalism is a misnomer for the liberals — if we were back in the days of the Revolution, so- called conservatives today would be the Liberals and the liberals would be the Tories.

The basis of conservatism is a desire for less government interference or less centralized authority or more individual freedom and this is a pretty general description also of what libertarianism is.

Ronald Reagan

Ronald Reagan was not talking about what you fanatical Paultard assholes call libertarianism.

When Ronald Reagan said that “If you analyze it I believe the very heart and soul of conservatism is libertarianism,” he didn’t mean today’s dope-and-sodomy libertarianism.1.

He was talking about the western character of conservatism he shared with other western Republicans. In the open spaces of the west, one comes to believe in a live-and-let-live way of operating.”1.

Reagan's record, while generally conservative, is not particularly libertarian.2.

Ronald Reagan was NO Libertarian.3

You need to quite trying to use Ronald Reagan to support your anarchist cause.

Get that through your thick skull …

Gatlin posted on 2017-02-15 14:17:52   Reply   Private Reply


#44: Vicomte13    To: misterwhite (#31)

"The government of the United States is a definite government, confined to specified objects. It is not like state governments, whose powers are more general. Charity is no part of the legislative duty of the government." -- James Madison, speech in the House of Representatives, January 10, 1794

James Madison, the slaveholder, is dead.

In America today we have rejected James Madison's slavery, and we have also rejected his view on public charity. We have decided that poverty relief is an object to which government at all levels is properly engaged in combating.

Madison would have opposed this, and you still do.

But I think that poverty relief is a proper goal of government. And my view is in the majority, so it's the law of the land.

Vicomte13 posted on 2017-02-15 14:21:47   Reply   Private Reply


#45: Vicomte13    To: sneakypete (#42)

Be slaves to the Pope?

Teach little boys to bend over and grab their ankles when Priest enters the room?

No, Jesus didn't tell us to be slaves to the Pope, or to teach little boys to bend over and grab their ankles for priests.

The Catholic Church doesn't teach those things either.

Vicomte13 posted on 2017-02-15 14:23:34   Reply   Private Reply


#46: misterwhite    To: Vicomte13 (#44)

"But I think that poverty relief is a proper goal of government. And my view is in the majority, so it's the law of the land. "

And what happens when the percentage of those in poverty reach 51%? What's to stop them voting themselves all the money of those who work?

"In total, the Census Bureau estimated, 151,014,000 Americans out of a population then estimated to be 306,804,000 received benefits from one or more government programs during the last three months of 2011. Those 151,014,000 beneficiaries equaled 49.2 percent of the population".
-- Oct 23, 2013

misterwhite posted on 2017-02-15 14:44:09   Reply   Private Reply


#47: A K A Stone    To: Vicomte13 (#44)

James Madison, the slaveholder, is dead.

Vic is alive too.

Vic would vote for HIllary the baby Killer if she ran against Cruz the christian.

A K A Stone posted on 2017-02-15 15:23:03   Reply   Private Reply


#48: A K A Stone    To: Vicomte13 (#45)

No, Jesus didn't tell us to be slaves to the Pope, or to teach little boys to bend over and grab their ankles for priests.

The Catholic Church doesn't teach those things either.

The Catholic Church doesn't teach little boys to bend over. But they did cover up quite a bit of it for quite a long period of time.

A K A Stone posted on 2017-02-15 15:24:08   Reply   Private Reply


#49: A K A Stone    To: sneakypete (#42)

Be slaves to the Pope?

Teach little boys to bend over and grab their ankles when Priest enters the room?

You know very well that that isn't the teachings of Christ.

A K A Stone posted on 2017-02-15 15:25:00   Reply   Private Reply


#50: jeremiad    To: Gatlin (#0)

I would like to know is just ONE authoritarian thing Trump has done as President...JUST ONE?....

jeremiad posted on 2017-02-15 16:26:01   Reply   Private Reply


#51: Vicomte13    To: misterwhite (#46)

And what happens when the percentage of those in poverty reach 51%? What's to stop them voting themselves all the money of those who work?

Common sense. The filibuster. The Courts. The whole system of checks and balances in our system. The fact that Congressmen and Senators and state legislators are themselves all people of means who won't vote for that because it won't work.

Truth is, there's no risk of that happening.

Vicomte13 posted on 2017-02-15 16:41:03   Reply   Private Reply


#52: Vicomte13    To: A K A Stone (#47)

Vic is alive too.

Vic would vote for HIllary the baby Killer if she ran against Cruz the christian.

That choice was not on offer.

Vicomte13 posted on 2017-02-15 16:41:53   Reply   Private Reply


#53: Vicomte13    To: A K A Stone (#48)

The Catholic Church doesn't teach little boys to bend over. But they did cover up quite a bit of it for quite a long period of time.

And it was disgusting that they did so, and is a reason why Catholics do not docilely do whatever the Church says. In the Middle Ages, many did, but men in power, whether in government or in the Church, sometimes grotesquely abuse that power.

Which means that men in power, including men of the Church, cannot be completely trusted and always have to be watched. One of the 12 Apostles, handpicked by Jesus, was a scumbag.

The priestly pedophilia cases, and the Church's coverup of them, teach us what we all should have known already: you cannot completely trust anybody with your kids - you have to be vigilant.

Vicomte13 posted on 2017-02-15 16:44:23   Reply   Private Reply


#54: Deckard    To: Gatlin (#38)

Anarchist: (Gatlin dictionary)

Anyone who does questions authority, demands accountability for cops, is against the drug war, criticizes Trump and exposes corrupt criminal government actions.

Deckard posted on 2017-02-15 17:00:49   Reply   Private Reply


#55: sneakypete    To: Vicomte13 (#45)

No, Jesus didn't tell us to be slaves to the Pope, or to teach little boys to bend over and grab their ankles for priests.

The Catholic Church doesn't teach those things either.

Hard to believe after looking at history.

sneakypete posted on 2017-02-15 17:01:27   Reply   Private Reply


#56: sneakypete    To: A K A Stone (#49)

Be slaves to the Pope?

Teach little boys to bend over and grab their ankles when Priest enters the room?

You know very well that that isn't the teachings of Christ.

Yes,I do,but we both know very well that might as well have been the teachings of the Catholic Church for hundreds of years,and for hundreds of years they were the only Christian Church.

It was the corruption and evil done by the Catholic Church that led to the revolution that created Protestantism,and it was started by Martin Luther,a Catholic Priest himself that was fed up with the corruption from Rome.

sneakypete posted on 2017-02-15 17:04:26   Reply   Private Reply


#57: Deckard    To: Gatlin (#43)

Ronald Reagan was NO Libertarian.

The fact remains - what he said about "...the very heart and soul of conservatism is libertarianism" is true.

BTW, your obsession with sodomy is just a bit bizarre - do you think you could keep your fantasies to yourself?

This place doesn't need another homo like yukon defiling the character of this site.

Deckard posted on 2017-02-15 17:04:37   Reply   Private Reply


#58: Vicomte13    To: sneakypete (#55)

Hard to believe after looking at history.

Yes, yes, you detest the Catholic Church. We know.

You needn't worry. Catholics make up maybe 20% of the population of the US, and half of them are only nominal Catholics, not real practitioners. So there's zero danger of them doing anything that will interfere with your life.

Vicomte13 posted on 2017-02-15 17:05:26   Reply   Private Reply


#59: sneakypete    To: jeremiad (#50)

I would like to know is just ONE authoritarian thing Trump has done as President...JUST ONE?....

I'm betting that he has told Melina at least once to "Shake it,baby!"

sneakypete posted on 2017-02-15 17:05:58   Reply   Private Reply


#60: sneakypete    To: Vicomte13 (#53)

The priestly pedophilia cases, and the Church's coverup of them, teach us what we all should have known already: you cannot completely trust anybody with your kids - you have to be vigilant.

I think the Prime Lesson learned from that is more universal,and has been expressed many times by the saying "Power corrupts,and absolute power corrupts absolutely".

None of us are entirely immune to those temptations,but I AM willing to bet more than 90 percent of us have no trouble not molesting children. That's a special kind of sickness that goes beyond normal temptations.

sneakypete posted on 2017-02-15 17:09:39   Reply   Private Reply


#61: misterwhite    To: Vicomte13 (#51)

So you're saying the government will, and should, turn it's back on the needy? You're heartless after all.

misterwhite posted on 2017-02-15 17:35:57   Reply   Private Reply


#62: misterwhite    To: A K A Stone (#48)

Still picking on priests? "Almost all accusations against Catholic priests date from many decades ago, and indeed nearly half of all abuse accusations concern priests who are already long dead."

"The incidence of sexual abuse by teachers in public schools today has been estimated to be "more than 100 times" that by Catholic priests, and there is alarming evidence of school officials covering up abuse and failing to report suspected cases to authorities."

misterwhite posted on 2017-02-15 17:42:53   Reply   Private Reply


#63: Vicomte13    To: misterwhite (#61)

So you're saying the government will, and should, turn it's back on the needy? You're heartless after all.

You have a reading comprehension problem.

Vicomte13 posted on 2017-02-15 18:04:02   Reply   Private Reply


#64: Gatlin    To: Deckard (#57)

The fact remains -
The fact remains that you lied by omission with your deception to cherry pick out certain words from the entire quote by Ronald Reagan when you intentionally left out the following:
Now, I can't say that I will agree with all the things that the present group who CALL themselves Libertarians in the sense of a party say, because I think that like in any political movement there are shades, and there are libertarians [like you, Deckard, and hondope] who are almost over at the point of wanting no government at all or anarchy.
It is hard to decide who post the most lies on LF….you or hondope.

Gatlin posted on 2017-02-15 18:44:43   Reply   Private Reply


#65: A K A Stone    To: sneakypete (#56)

for hundreds of years they were the only Christian Church.

That isn't true.

A K A Stone posted on 2017-02-15 18:46:04   Reply   Private Reply


#66: Gatlin    To: Deckard (#54)

More "fake news" ...

Your specialty.

Can’t you ever do anything but make up lies and post them?

Obviously not …

Gatlin posted on 2017-02-15 18:47:49   Reply   Private Reply


#67: A K A Stone    To: Vicomte13 (#52)

Vic would vote for HIllary the baby Killer if she ran against Cruz the christian.

That choice was not on offer.

True. But you did say that if Cruz got the nomination you would vote for Hillary.

A K A Stone posted on 2017-02-15 18:48:00   Reply   Private Reply


#68: A K A Stone    To: misterwhite (#62)

"The incidence of sexual abuse by teachers in public schools today has been estimated to be "more than 100 times" that by Catholic priests

Sounds like you are saying since Muhammad molested hundreds of little kids it is ok if mistergreen molests one.

A K A Stone posted on 2017-02-15 18:58:58   Reply   Private Reply


#69: A K A Stone    To: sneakypete (#56)

Be slaves to the Pope? Teach little boys to bend over and grab their ankles when Priest enters the room?

You know very well that that isn't the teachings of Christ.

Yes,I do,

But you said it anyway.

A K A Stone posted on 2017-02-15 19:00:53   Reply   Private Reply


#70: Hondo68    To: Gatlin, lies most (#64)

our deception to cherry pick out certain words

r hondope

Your fake news team/alternative facts/lies specialists.....

ISIS Gatlin, and FireIsland

Hondo68 posted on 2017-02-15 19:02:50   Reply   Private Reply


#71: Vicomte13    To: A K A Stone (#67)

True. But you did say that if Cruz got the nomination you would vote for Hillary.

I probably did that, at a time when I was furious at Cruz for his attacks on Trump. I also said I would not vote for W after his goons took out McCain in South Carolina by insinuating that he had had relations out of wedlock that fathered a black child, when in fact he and his wife had adopted a child from India (I think it was).

I was so disgusted with W that I said I would not vote for him.

But come election time, I held my nose and voted for him anyway.

Same thing with Romney. With Romney I said it was the LAST TIME I would hold my nose and vote, and I meant it.

But the world moves on and new situations arise, and given that it was Hillary Clinton running, and her campaign reminded me just how odious she was, had Cruz been the nominee, or Jeb, or probably any of them, I very probably would have gone and angrily and sullenly voted for the nominee and then bitched about it forever afterwards, pretty much like most of the "NeverTrumpers" did, in the end, go vote for Trump - and hate it.

But yes, in the heat of the primary battle, I said I would not vote for Cruz, and at that moment in time I really truly meant it.

I had a girlfriend once in California who was just not my type, and I kept saying at the end of each weekend "I am NEVER doing that again - I've got to break this off..." But she had other...qualities...that overrode the personality incompatibility.

Sometimes we do what we don't want to do, even though we really meant it when we said "Never!" or "Never again!"

Vicomte13 posted on 2017-02-15 20:19:32   Reply   Private Reply


#72: buckeroo    To: Gatlin (#0)

You are a cult, all unto yourself.

buckeroo posted on 2017-02-15 20:38:52   Reply   Private Reply


#73: GrandIsland    To: sneakypete (#39)

Drug use is NOT immoral

Let me guess, you're one of those asshole faggot loving libtards that call drug addiction a disease?

Illegal drug use IS immoral and prescription drug abuse is also immoral.

GrandIsland posted on 2017-02-15 20:48:04   Reply   Private Reply


#74: buckeroo    To: GrandIsland (#73)

Illegal drug use IS immoral and prescription drug abuse is also immoral.

You make no sense. Clearly, you mean to write: "drug use is immoral" but some how you are convinced about some maegikal POWER of GOVERNMENT interference. Why?

buckeroo posted on 2017-02-15 20:57:18   Reply   Private Reply


#75: sneakypete    To: A K A Stone (#65)

for hundreds of years they were the only Christian Church.

That isn't true.

Really? Who else was there?

sneakypete posted on 2017-02-15 22:41:41   Reply   Private Reply


#76: sneakypete    To: A K A Stone, misterwhite (#68)

"The incidence of sexual abuse by teachers in public schools today has been estimated to be "more than 100 times" that by Catholic priests

Sounds like you are saying since Muhammad molested hundreds of little kids it is ok if mistergreen molests one.

Read that same way to me,too.

sneakypete posted on 2017-02-15 22:43:09   Reply   Private Reply


#77: sneakypete    To: A K A Stone (#69)

Be slaves to the Pope? Teach little boys to bend over and grab their ankles when Priest enters the room?

You know very well that that isn't the teachings of Christ.

Yes,I do,

But you said it anyway.

No,I wrote that was the teachings of the Catholic Church,and various Priests.

AFAIK,Christ was never a Catholic.

sneakypete posted on 2017-02-15 22:44:29   Reply   Private Reply


#78: sneakypete    To: GrandIsland (#73)

Let me guess, you're one of those asshole faggot loving libtards that call drug addiction a disease?

If you are anything,it is consistently wrong.

sneakypete posted on 2017-02-15 22:57:37   Reply   Private Reply


#79: A K A Stone    To: Vicomte13 (#71)

I probably did that, at a time when I was furious at Cruz for his attacks on Trump. I also said I would not vote for W a

Fair enough. We all say things like that.

I'll try to give that line of attack a rest.

A K A Stone posted on 2017-02-16 03:49:07   Reply   Private Reply


#80: misterwhite    To: A K A Stone (#68)

"Sounds like you are saying since Muhammad molested hundreds of little kids it is ok if mistergreen molests one."

Not at all. But if you focus on mistergreen day after day, week after week and completely ignore the actions of Muhammad (who is 100X worse), then I question your objectivity and your agenda.

misterwhite posted on 2017-02-16 09:17:25   Reply   Private Reply


#81: misterwhite    To: A K A Stone (#69)

"But you said it anyway."

Because he's a troll and an attention-seeking whore.

misterwhite posted on 2017-02-16 09:19:52   Reply   Private Reply


#82: misterwhite    To: buckeroo (#74)

"Clearly, you mean to write: "drug use is immoral"

Aspirin use is immoral? Are you insane?

misterwhite posted on 2017-02-16 09:25:59   Reply   Private Reply


#83: Vicomte13    To: sneakypete (#77)

No,I wrote that was the teachings of the Catholic Church,

The Catholic Church taught boys to bend over for sodomy?

Ummmm...no.

Vicomte13 posted on 2017-02-16 10:33:35   Reply   Private Reply


#84: sneakypete    To: Vicomte13 (#83)

The Catholic Church taught boys to bend over for sodomy?

Ummmm...no.

Ummmm,yes.

Otherwise it would have been made public and punished hundreds of years ago.

A "nod and a wink" is as good as official doctrine. ANY organization that knowingly allows that sort of thing to happen,and then covers up for it when it may be exposed,is evil. Period.

sneakypete posted on 2017-02-16 10:39:18   Reply   Private Reply


#85: Vicomte13    To: sneakypete (#84)

A "nod and a wink" is as good as official doctrine. ANY organization that knowingly allows that sort of thing to happen,and then covers up for it when it may be exposed,is evil. Period.

What's your view on slaveholders?

Vicomte13 posted on 2017-02-16 16:53:09   Reply   Private Reply


#86: sneakypete    To: Vicomte13 (#85)

A "nod and a wink" is as good as official doctrine. ANY organization that knowingly allows that sort of thing to happen,and then covers up for it when it may be exposed,is evil. Period.

What's your view on slaveholders?

You mean like the Pope and his officials?

sneakypete posted on 2017-02-16 19:42:58   Reply   Private Reply


#87: Vicomte13    To: sneakypete (#86)

You mean like the Pope and his officials?

No, I was thinking George Washington and his.

Vicomte13 posted on 2017-02-17 07:25:44   Reply   Private Reply


#88: sneakypete    To: Vicomte13 (#87)

No, I was thinking George Washington and his.

George Washington has slaves?

I hate to be the one to break it to you,but GW died a long time ago. It was in ALL the papers.

sneakypete posted on 2017-02-17 08:43:19   Reply   Private Reply


#89: jeremiad    To: sneakypete (#59)

ROFLMAO....

I guess LF has descended into Facebook level discussion, or at least I have.

jeremiad posted on 2017-02-17 10:55:09   Reply   Private Reply