tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5973827.post7866646127674209172..comments2024-01-11T07:40:01.736-05:00Comments on The Stopped Clock: Libertarianism Withering Under the SpotlightAaronhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16523334580402022332noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5973827.post-30410564612387434182010-05-23T16:20:25.165-04:002010-05-23T16:20:25.165-04:00Theory usually works better in theory than in prac...Theory usually works better in theory than in practice. But again, libertarian's failure is evidence not only by the fact that there are no (none, zero, zilch, nada) examples of libertarian governments in all of recorded history, and by the fact that every time you push in the direction of libertarianism you end up with either the popular reaction of "I'm happy for you to take away government benefits from others, but <em>not from me</em>", or catastrophic failures, abuses and corruption that occur in the absence of adequate oversight or regulation. That, also, has been a consistent lesson of history. The failures aren't unique to libertarianism, but libertarianism makes them inevitable.<br /><br />I don't think this is an exaggeration: Whenever we have trended toward libertarian on a large or societal scale, whether we're talking bank deregulation, energy industry deregulation, deregulation of employment relationships, or during a pre-regulatory period when "market forces" governed such things (or the "right" to discriminate), we've experienced disaster mitigated only by whatever vestiges of regulation were in place.Aaronhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16523334580402022332noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5973827.post-46675747232906587302010-05-23T06:15:50.523-04:002010-05-23T06:15:50.523-04:00Without necessarily disagreeing with your thesis (...Without necessarily disagreeing with your thesis (libertarianism, nice theory doesn't work well in practice); I do kind of wonder how it makes libertarianism much different than any other theory of government. The devil is always in the details (or practice, if you prefer.)<br /><br />Communism (and pretty much all of your other "utopian" type forms of government) works as a neat intellectual exercise - it is an abject failure in the real world (as should be clear to anyone with a lick of sense). Yet we have people willing to kill others and die themselves in order to propagate the forms of communism associated with Stalin and Mao (see Nepal, Peru, and India).<br /><br />Anarchy (or whatever the "anarchists" are referring to their form of "non-government" government as this week) as an organizing system or form of government is a complete joke that can not be taken seriously by anyone at all . . . except the thousands of rock throwing idiots (and their even more numerous camp followers) who do.<br /><br />"Democracy" - neat theory, but we haven't really had one anywhere in the world as a "state" government since Athens fell to Alexander - and most of us kind of like the fact that there is a constitution and rule of law to keep the tyranny of the masses in check . . . (insert "worst form of government except for . . . " quote here)<br /><br />Etc, etc, etc<br /><br />CWDAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5973827.post-25351919335297509822010-05-23T02:14:36.389-04:002010-05-23T02:14:36.389-04:00The queen of libertarians, Ayn Rand, is famous for...The queen of libertarians, Ayn Rand, is famous for her lack of empathy. Among libertarians, that's certainly not unique to her.<br /><br />We can speculate as to whether certain libertarians talk about racial issues because they're the ones that get the most attention, or because they're rationalizing or covering for their own beliefs. But it's perhaps more germane to note that the rights that libertarians want to protect are those that provide them with benefits - the right to discriminate, the right to prevent anybody from interfering with their property - and the rights they don't deem worthy of protection are the ones that don't directly benefit them.<br /><br />Using your example, Prof. Bernstein is not afraid that <em>he's</em> going to be to be told by a private business owner to sit in a segregated seating area or drink at a segregated fountain because of his race or religion, and can you imagine his outrage if that were to occur.Aaronhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16523334580402022332noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5973827.post-72055119013215995552010-05-23T02:06:17.571-04:002010-05-23T02:06:17.571-04:00I wonder how much libertarian praise this hollow m...I wonder how much libertarian praise <a href="http://volokh.com/2010/05/22/so-a-libertarian-and-a-liberal-walk-into-a-bar/" rel="nofollow">this hollow man-based brain turd</a> will generate?<br /><br />Remember, it's not actually about race or racism, even when the libertarian at issue can't seem to address what it means to be libertarian except in the context of how his opposition to civil rights laws isn't racist.Atticusnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5973827.post-45965964347710881732010-05-23T01:03:45.351-04:002010-05-23T01:03:45.351-04:00Have you noticed that libertarians form a mutual a...Have you noticed that libertarians form a mutual admiration society? I guess it's not unusual in a sense for people who like a message to ignore the weakness of the argument and give it a "Yeah, great," "Indeed", or the equivalent. But with libertarians you sometimes have to wonder if they can blushHaveYaNoticednoreply@blogger.com