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A comment on Snowden’s biggest revelation: We don’t know what power is, nor do we care. Parent comment

Re:Snowden’s biggest revelation: We don’t know what power is... by gress on Sunday December 29, 2013 @10:57PM (#6982955)
No, but it is an argument that libertarianism is incidental to them holding a few views that happen to be popular.

Lots of people value freedom, and many of them are pro-pot and anti-war because they believe the alternative to be oppressive.

Libertarians are a narrow subset of this who subscribe to an absolutist philosophy that they believe will maximize freedom. Many people who value freedom strongly disagree with libertarianism as a means to achieving it, even though they sympathize with the desire.

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Re:Snowden’s biggest revelation: We don’t know what power is... by baddox on Monday December 30, 2013 @01:54AM (#6983434)
Your characterization of libertarians as people with an absolutist philosophy that they believe will maximize freedom applies only to a subset of people who identify as libertarians.
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Re:Snowden’s biggest revelation: We don’t know what power is... by gress on Monday December 30, 2013 @12:06PM (#6985461)
If true, that supports my point further.
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Re:Snowden’s biggest revelation: We don’t know what power is... by gress on Sunday December 29, 2013 @11:34PM (#6983054)
..and to reply to your later addition - there is no reason to celebrate libertarianism if you think it's a damaging philosophy just because libertarians agree with you on a few issues. Libertarianism isn't an arbitrary label.
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