German guy
DP Veteran
- Joined
- Jun 9, 2010
- Messages
- 5,187
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- Location
- Berlin, Germany
- Gender
- Male
- Political Leaning
- Moderate
Indeed, and the rub is where that balance lies. The varying political philosophies will put emphasis on various areas depending on where they feel that balance is. Libertarian political philosophy is no different, our core is upon the preservation and proliferation of the rights and liberties of the individual. Everything then flows from there. There are many entities to watch, be it from the government sector, the economic sector, etc. And the interplay of these various actors have consequences upon us all. But in all the various libertarian attack threads, it's as if this seems to be an unreasonable process for our political ideology while acceptable in other forms. This thread, the traffic intersection thread, etc. are examples of dishonest or ignorant application of generalized libertarian ideals to a system in which actual libertarian models may not even drive to.
In this thread people propose that libertarian ideology drives to oligarchy; but oligarchy is already had even in the absence of applied libertarian theory. Thus it is not a product of libertarian political philosophy; but rather the evolution of government once created. Government is necessary, but also dangerous. Thus it must be controlled and restricted, which is where our (libertarian) philosophy currently focuses its efforts.
In the end, I really hate these troll/attack threads because there's never any real effort to discuss with us our foundations, our platforms, and specifically what we'd like to drive to and what we could accept. It's always some outlandish and silly thing. "libertarianism will drive to fascism" or some other crap like that. And I think a lot gets "blamed" (for lack of a better word) on libertarian philosophy. Too many people, IMO, look at our crazy section and apply that to the overall. And through the liberal use of hyperbole and propaganda lay blame unto our platform which does not rightfully belong. I believe that for many people if they'd seriously sit down and have an adult discussion of libertarian philosophy would come out for the better. Doesn't say you have to agree with it; but in the end would behoove us much more than these silly attack threads and rampant supposition.
I understand your frustration. Too harsh polemics and a rude tone easily becomes tiresome. And I hope I did not give you the impression I was blaming you or libertarianism in general for fascism.
Personally, I sympathize with libertarianism, although I don't consider myself a libertarian (a libertarian friend of mine once said, though, he believes I am a libertarian who has just not read enough Friedman and Hayek yet ). Usually, I am by far not as bothered by social safety nets and limited redistribution, as many libertarians I have met seem to be, but I believe, on the contrary, that they are a good thing to compensate bad side effects of free markets. On the other side, I am very wary of genuine socialists or social democrats who go too far in these regards, who seem to distrust markets in general and/or don't understand the market's great strength when it comes to efficiency. Also, I believe the market has done more in history to improve the general public's wealth, than socialism or redistribution has. I'd just not go so far saying that redistribution is wrong or unnecessary. And I am not quite as fond of the qualities of free markets on other fields than efficiency, like justness and fairness -- freedom is not everything, we also need some equality, and when your belly is empty, you can't fill it with the nice freedom from coercion.
The main problem I see with ideological libertarianism, much like with other ideologies, like socialism, is that they sound great on paper, but I see problems when it comes putting them to reality. To realize the libertarian ideal of a genuinely free market, and a tough, but very small government, is probably just as unrealistic as the establishment of a socialist utopia. And just like the socialists, I see the threat that libertarians may cause quite a few unwanted side effects in their strife for the ideal, when they take actions to make it become reality.
But I do believe libertarian thought is a good bulwark and balance against prevalent other ideologies, which are often way too embracing of government.
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