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A comment on Is Trump mulling Peter Thiel for a top intelligence advisory post?. Parent comment

Re:Is Trump mulling Peter Thiel for a top intelligence advis... by dagw on Thursday September 21, 2017 @04:50AM (#15301630)
You're views (which I largely agree with) with ideas like strict regulations, higher taxation and solid safety nets sound more like European Liberal views rather than anything most people would recognize as libertarian. But I do understand that most political labels are pretty meaningless in isolation.
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Re:Is Trump mulling Peter Thiel for a top intelligence advis... by KGIII on Thursday September 21, 2017 @05:16AM (#15301757)
They were the most common of libertarian values until recently. Libertarians used to be the kooky left but are now the crazy right, at least as far as perception goes.

The thing is, we weren't ever a large group. When what I call ashamed republicans took over the party, it moved perception strongly to the right. We can't really kick them out of the party, that would kinda be antithetical to our stated beliefs.

So, here we are. I can understand why people would be confused when I say I'm a libertarian. I can understand why they'd immediately think I'm a Randian. So, I try to explain it, but it's rather verbose and not exactly easy to sum up.

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Re:Is Trump mulling Peter Thiel for a top intelligence advis... by olalonde on Thursday September 21, 2017 @05:48AM (#15301885)
> I can understand why people would be confused when I say I'm a libertarian

Indeed. Do you think it is possible that you are mislabeling yourself? From this thread, I'd say most people would label you a social democrat (and no, not because you reject Ayn Rand).

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Re:Is Trump mulling Peter Thiel for a top intelligence advis... by KGIII on Thursday September 21, 2017 @06:11AM (#15301972)
Not really, no. I didn't change, the party changed and the public perception changed. It is hard to put people into boxes. In my case, my goal is to maximize liberty. That's my primary concern.
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Re:Is Trump mulling Peter Thiel for a top intelligence advis... by sjwright on Thursday September 21, 2017 @05:31AM (#15301824)
Libertarianism ought to be, in my view, maximum freedom with minimum externalities. You should be able to justify drug legalisation and strict pollution regulations within this model.
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