Something was wrong. It seemed I had angered the techno libertarians.

Re:Something was wrong. It seemed I had angered the techno l... by billswift on Thursday August 20, 2009 @12:50PM (#775442)

"Nor do they have any monopoly on a distorted view of reality." Libertarians' views of reality are almost always less distorted than the downright wacko views held by most Democrats and Republicans, socialists and conservatives.

Nor are all, or even most, libertarians particularly successful, much less the money worshipping conservatives the socialistic "social responsibility" whiners like this essay like to criticize.

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Re:Something was wrong. It seemed I had angered the techno l... by gloob on Thursday August 20, 2009 @01:08PM (#775487)

Libertarians' views of reality are almost always less distorted than the downright wacko views held by most Democrats and Republicans, socialists and conservatives.

From the perspective of a libertarian, perhaps.

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Re:Something was wrong. It seemed I had angered the techno l... by billswift on Thursday August 20, 2009 @01:13PM (#775509)

There are two kinds of people in the world, libertarians (whether or not they call themselves that) and evil scumbags who want to control other people. It makes no difference what excuses you make for your evil; you all still have to twist reality to justify it to each other and to yourselves.

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Re:Something was wrong. It seemed I had angered the techno l... by unalone on Thursday August 20, 2009 @01:17PM (#775520)

There are many kinds of people in the world. One similar dichotomy I could draw is between people who appreciate the nuance and complexity of being alive and having to make millions of decisions as you grow up, and people who think it's possible to draw a line and declare some people as evil and other people as good based on a single part of their existence.

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Re:Something was wrong. It seemed I had angered the techno l... by billswift on Thursday August 20, 2009 @02:13PM (#775697)

People are extremely multidimensional; but the fundamental political division is willingness or unwillingness to coerce others, that is to use force to make others do what you want them to, which is THE fundamental feature of gov't.

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Re:Something was wrong. It seemed I had angered the techno l... by unalone on Thursday August 20, 2009 @02:19PM (#775717)

I'll agree with you to some degree, but in some cases force is needed. See my response to you elsewhere regarding regulations, which I think is an important part of society.

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Re:Something was wrong. It seemed I had angered the techno l... by gloob on Thursday August 20, 2009 @01:17PM (#775518)

I'm fairly sure you missed my point.

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Re:Something was wrong. It seemed I had angered the techno l... by krschultz on Thursday August 20, 2009 @01:34PM (#775579)

A true libertarian believes that the only thing the government should do is protect our country from others protect the rights of the people.

Thats it. Not a single thing more.

The number of people who really believe that is vanishingly small.

I know, I was a party member for a long time. I did a lot more than just post on blogs and read reason.com.

So if that 1-3% of the population were able to have its way, who is really the evil tyrant?

Remember, international waters is only a few dozens of miles from our coast. People say that communism has never succeeded - but neither has libertarianism. You can start today.

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Re:Something was wrong. It seemed I had angered the techno l... by billswift on Thursday August 20, 2009 @02:10PM (#775690)

The difference is GOV'T IS COERCION, that is the whole purpose and justification of gov't. Libertarians object to being coerced and to coercing others. Can anyone give me ANY rational reason to do as gov't orders other than to avoid being assaulted or worse? (This is an adequate reason, I obey the law, but I don't think it is a good or rational reason).

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Re:Something was wrong. It seemed I had angered the techno l... by krschultz on Thursday August 20, 2009 @03:15PM (#775867)

If the libertarians were able to take power tomorrow and started eliminated government programs, you don't think ANYONE would feel like they were being forced to do something they didn't want to do?

It's only coercion when you're forced to do something YOU don't like, but when it's something you like being forced on everyone else that is OK?

There is no possible route to eliminate coercion as long as people within the society disagree.

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Re:Something was wrong. It seemed I had angered the techno l... by calcnerd256 on Thursday August 20, 2009 @04:08PM (#776041)

So others will obey the government when it asks them not to infringe on your freedom. It's not like the government is immune to change. If you don't like it, get involved. If you're in the minority, that's why the United States Federal Government wasn't originally supposed to be very big. States rights are supposed to exist so that you have the option of going elsewhere and gelling with likeminded individuals who will have their local government enforce your will.

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