motorfirebox said:
response to and prevention of violence was an aside, in my post. my main point is that you appear to be misapprehending what the principles libertarians favor actually are. again, the situation described in the article is not the result of a freed market, it's the result of poorly-designed and poorly-implemented regulations.
TheFuckOffKid said:
Have you been holidaying in SargeWorld?
eh, don't mistake my attempt at clarification for agreement with people who take the principles i'm trying to clarify to ridiculous extremes.
This thread is based upon bumper-sticker glibertarianism (read the opening post!) in which regulation of sidewalk traders was perceived to be the actual problem! Capiche?
Don't tell those of us who responded to that line of argument that we're somehow misunderstanding libertarianism, or not giving it enough credit, ok?
motorfirebox said:
libertarian ideals don't simply call for "minimal interference". they call for the minimum level of interference necessary to allow businesses to compete on equal terms--which certainly includes intervening to prevent violence, both because violence is undesirable, and because the use of violence to gain advantage in business is a circumvention of the level playing field.
Have you been holidaying in SargeWorld?
Yeah, and can you get by with just knowing English there, or would you be better served by learning some phrases in Chinese?
There's a free language market in SargeWorld. Everybody speaks whatever language they like, but through consensual contracting and a thriving (unregulated!) translation industry, everybody understands everybody!
motorfirebox said:
response to and prevention of violence was an aside, in my post. my main point is that you appear to be misapprehending what the principles libertarians favor actually are. again, the situation described in the article is not the result of a freed market, it's the result of poorly-designed and poorly-implemented regulations.
TheFuckOffKid said:
Have you been holidaying in SargeWorld?
eh, don't mistake my attempt at clarification for agreement with people who take the principles i'm trying to clarify to ridiculous extremes.
This thread is based upon bumper-sticker glibertarianism (read the opening post!) in which regulation of sidewalk traders was perceived to be the actual problem! Capiche?
Don't tell those of us who responded to that line of argument that we're somehow misunderstanding libertarianism, or not giving it enough credit, ok?
right, except that several people posting in this thread, judging from their posts, actually believe that Sarge's blind opposition to any and all regulation is a real representation of libertarian ideals. and yes, there certainly are libertarians who agree with Sarge. there are also left-wingers who think we should do away with capitalism altogether in favor of a completely state-run economy. are you comfortable being lumped in with those people? would you accept it if Sarge said that the collapse of the Soviet Union is an example of a "left-wing utopia"?
If a smash-the-state revolutionary leftist started a thread, I'd expect people to respond to that post, not the imaginary post of a pragrmatic but intellectually informed and sophisticated leftist that hadn't in fact appeared in the thread at all.
I've been on CE a long time and seen a number of libertarian and conservative posters, and I don't think anyone here is being particularly unfair.
TheFuckOffKid said:
If a smash-the-state revolutionary leftist started a thread, I'd expect people to respond to that post, not the imaginary post of a pragrmatic but intellectually informed and sophisticated leftist that hadn't in fact appeared in the thread at all.
i think it's better to look at all sides of an issue. dismissing an entire opposing political and philosophical school of thought based on a few bad arguments strikes me as a bad idea.
TheFuckOffKid said:
I've been on CE a long time and seen a number of libertarian and conservative posters, and I don't think anyone here is being particularly unfair.
haha, y'know, i was going to say something about how it's kinda unfair to let some of the people in this thread stand as representatives for libertarianism... but honestly, most outspoken libertarians are actually worse.
TheFuckOffKid
NEWSWIRE
Australia
JUL 01, 2009 10:24 PM