Ask the Libertarian

[SomeRandomDude]

Those of you who know me know that I'm extremely Libertarian in my thinking. That is to say, I ascribe to the classical libertarian theory of the night watchman. What is the role of government? The protection of property. The social contract is critical to libertarian ideology. In essence, we, the people, can do anything we want. However, for the protection of liberty, we make a social contract that establishes government for the purpose of preventing us from interfering in someone else's natural rights. Thus, government has only one job, protecting the individual from other people infringing their rights, ie, government is essentially law enforcement, and precious little else.

Under a utopian world. We are too dependent on the government to go back to that area now, but still, libertarian principles of de-regulation are crucial to restoring government to its original intent.

Sound conservative? Eh...no. Conservatives have some libertarian ideals, but let me go over a few that are NOT.

1. Foreign Policy- Iraq. Our military, for the protection of the right to life of American citizens, disarmed a nation that was a threat to us. We have no right to interfere with the operations of another country after that. Get in, protect America's citizens, get out.

2. Foreign Policy- Humanitarian Crisis. None of our business. Does not affect America's citizenry. The military is there for the protection of its own citizens. Thus, Libertarianism is isolationist.

3. Immigration. Why stop them? If they want to be part of America, let them. Why do we need arbitrary government quotas saying who can come in? Sure, we need to make sure they don't pose a threat to the natural rights of the American Citizenry, but last I checked, all people had natural rights. Open Immigration.

4.Taxes. Tax is a necessary evil. Duh, but ideally, there should be no tax. Definitely not income tax. Nor property tax. Nobody should be taxed for making money or owning property. However, sales tax is the fairest of all tax alternatives, as it is in part consensual, you can choose not to buy stuff.

Positive Liberty Practices- Affirmative Action, Welfare, other stuff that "gives the disadvantaged a chance." Um...no. Sorry that you started out there. Other people, like charities, churches, etc, its their purpose. At least part of humanity has compassion on the unfortunate, but government getting involved means, you guessed it, promoting certain people at the expense of others.

There's a libertarian manifesto. Got a question for me? I'll take it.

BTW, my ideas are also not necessarily Libertarian PARTY line, but fit in with the Libertarian school of thought.

[Gate Troll]

Those of you who know me know that I'm extremely Libertarian in my thinking. That is to say, I ascribe to the classical libertarian theory of the night watchman. What is the role of government? The protection of property. The social contract is critical to libertarian ideology. In essence, we, the people, can do anything we want. However, for the protection of liberty, we make a social contract that establishes government for the purpose of preventing us from interfering in someone else's natural rights. Thus, government has only one job, protecting the individual from other people infringing their rights, ie, government is essentially law enforcement, and precious little else.

Under a utopian world. We are too dependent on the government to go back to that area now, but still, libertarian principles of de-regulation are crucial to restoring government to its original intent.

Sound conservative? Eh...no. Conservatives have some libertarian ideals, but let me go over a few that are NOT.

1. Foreign Policy- Iraq. Our military, for the protection of the right to life of American citizens, disarmed a nation that was a threat to us. We have no right to interfere with the operations of another country after that. Get in, protect America's citizens, get out.

Yes, but I also think we should finish what we start, and while I honestly think we shouldn't interfere much when we do, we should get the job done.

2. Foreign Policy- Humanitarian Crisis. None of our business. Does not affect America's citizenry. The military is there for the protection of its own citizens. Thus, Libertarianism is isolationist.

I think it is our duty to save lives. Instead of looking the other way and saying "well, it isn't our problem" we should help in natural disasters and give aid to other countries. BTW, what problem do you have with the military helping other nationalities save lives?

3. Immigration. Why stop them? If they want to be part of America, let them. Why do we need arbitrary government quotas saying who can come in? Sure, we need to make sure they don't pose a threat to the natural rights of the American Citizenry, but last I checked, all people had natural rights. Open Immigration.

Yes, I have absolutely no problem with legal immigration. What I have a problem with is illegal immigration. I would also limit the immigration from Mexico.

4.Taxes. Tax is a necessary evil. Duh, but ideally, there should be no tax. Definitely not income tax. Nor property tax. Nobody should be taxed for making money or owning property. However, sales tax is the fairest of all tax alternatives, as it is in part consensual, you can choose not to buy stuff.

Yeah, sales tax is definitely the best. Income tax has always reeked of socialism as it tries to balance out the classes.

Positive Liberty Practices- Affirmative Action, Welfare, other stuff that "gives the disadvantaged a chance." Um...no. Sorry that you started out there. Other people, like charities, churches, etc, its their purpose. At least part of humanity has compassion on the unfortunate, but government getting involved means, you guessed it, promoting certain people at the expense of others.

Voluntary welfare is great. Enforced welfare is socialism. I agree there.

There's a libertarian manifesto. Got a question for me? I'll take it.

What are your views on gun rights and the second amendment?

BTW, my ideas are also not necessarily Libertarian PARTY line, but fit in with the Libertarian school of thought.

[turin08]

Well I agree with about half of that. Your point on welfare works when enough is being done by the churches and charities but unfortunately too many christians are interested in the so called 'prosperity gospel' rather than following Jesus's command to give to the poor. Welfare exists because the people failed to do this enough so the government stepped in.  I find your point number 2 extremely harsh. Where is the compassion in that? It was an isolationist attitude which delayed America's involvement in both world wars, causing millions of deaths. Your supposed to be a christin so the lack of compassion for people less fortunate than you is quite shocking. I agree with you on taxes and immigration though.

[Pepin The Breve]

   I think you already start at an individualism ponit of view and this just doesn´t fit with prevent of unharmonic relations.

   I respect your way of seeing things but don´t you think that could be better if the role of a governament is to make the lives of people better (even knowing that "better" is a relative term there is something that are almost universal like have acess to food, health, formal education and many others)?

   if you country can help others without cause warm to their population isn´t that a good evolutive option? Maybe you can be helped out to be helped in the future...

  It´s good to think and debate about this issues.

[MR. Lurtzy]

To protect the american citizens, we need to stay in Iraq until it gets a stable government, so it doesn't collapse into a terrorist-run country.

[Gil-Estel]

US should concentrate on their internal affairs only. Even though I'm not a US citizen, I know US economy is in poor shape. War on terrorism is a utopic war, cause you cannot fight an idea, it's like a ghost and the last Ghostbusters movie was made a while back so I guess they retired. But like more debates, we will never see the end of it.
I think the role of the government should be one of helping the people. Creating the best of circumstances since they are our representatives. They are not in charge, they are just our employees...sadly not the ones from the month, most of the times.
Together we have to make the best of it, some are more capable then others, and so  we all have other responsibilities within the system. When you don't help eachother, how can you be 1 nation?.....

[SomeRandomDude]

Okay...not sure you're getting this. Its called "Ask The Libertarian." Meaning...ask me a question. Cross-examination style, not making a speech style.

[Gate Troll]

You still haven't answered my question.

[turin08]

Ok I'lla question. I would like you to clarify your second point. Are you saying that if their was a large natural disaster in another country you would not want the US government and armed forces to provide financial aid or the help of the US military? As a continuation of that point,you state that you are an isolationist. Does that mean therefore that if you had been in charge of the country during World War 2 you would not have joined in the War in Europe?

[Gate Troll]

Ok I'lla question. I would like you to clarify your second point. Are you saying that if their was a large natural disaster in another country you would not want the US government and armed forces to provide financial aid or the help of the US military? As a continuation of that point,you state that you are an isolationist. Does that mean therefore that if you had been in charge of the country during World War 2 you would not have joined in the War in Europe?

I was wondering the same thing...

[SomeRandomDude]

What are your views on gun rights and the second amendment?

Any weapon up to and including fully auto, assault and/or military weapons should be allowed, unless under circumstances of a prior felony conviction, in which case, depriving the right is necessary for the protection of the natural rights of men, as a convicted felon with a weapon is likely to use it again.

Ok I'lla question. I would like you to clarify your second point. Are you saying that if their was a large natural disaster in another country you would not want the US government and armed forces to provide financial aid or the help of the US military? As a continuation of that point,you state that you are an isolationist. Does that mean therefore that if you had been in charge of the country during World War 2 you would not have joined in the War in Europe?

Quetion 1. Yes. Question 2. If you look back at history, Germany declared war on the US before the US declared war on them. If a nation declares war on us, I have no qualms about declaring war on them.

Also, under certain circumstances in which our interests are endangered by our allies being attacked, conceivably this could disrupt the US economy or global economy and thus have significantly adverse effects ont he United States, and in which case the fundamental right of the pursuit of happiness could be endangered and could thus be acted upon. Here I differ from the vast majority of libertarians, who are of the mindset of self-defense as the only provocation for war, but I would contend that self-defense could include protecting our interests, and thus our allies.

[MR. Lurtzy]

But that's not really a christian view.

[Gil-Estel]

A few questions:

You are a christian. If you were to be the leader of the US, how would that effect your leadership?

What would happen to the lesser forunate people, less capable of making money of their own? Maybe due to a physical cause, maybe due to a mental cause? Still no government involvement?

When the central bank of the US pumps massive ammounts of money into the economy, do you aprove of that? Isn't it somekind of welfare?

So far so good, oh no, a last question. Decleration of Independence states that all man are equal and that all have the right to defend their selves vs government. I assume that you completely underwright the D of I. Isn't the D of I some sort of pact with other countries that have simulair declarations? I mean, shouldn't the US always support others in their battle vs government? Or are they less equal?

[turin08]

I've got to say its not very 'love they neighbour'. It seems incredibly selfish and self serving actually. I know its a cliche but I think you should seriously ask yourself 'What would Jesus Do'.

[SomeRandomDude]

But that's not really a christian view.

See my response to turin below.

You are a christian. If you were to be the leader of the US, how would that effect your leadership?

I don't see how this applies, but it would drastically affect my leadership. For example. Abortion: A Christian views the child as human. Thus, it is entitled to the protection of its natural rights, thus, abortion should be illegal. A non-Christian libertarian? Don't interfere.

What would happen to the lesser forunate people, less capable of making money of their own? Maybe due to a physical cause, maybe due to a mental cause? Still no government involvement?

No. No government involvement. The role of the government is to preserve peace, not give everyone everything they need to make life work for them. How about those people who are LAZY. Government cannot discriminate, and thus, once it set precedence elsewhere, it needs to fund couch-potatoes. Again, I'll cover my perspective in my response to turin.

When the central bank of the US pumps massive ammounts of money into the economy, do you aprove of that? Isn't it somekind of welfare?

Ha. Now you hit on an issue I am not quite sure about myself. Hitherto, I've been in favor of the government creating currency, but now I'm thinking that privately backed currency may not be such a bad thing. As for gold-backed currency, I don't have a problem with gold certificates and such stuff, but the current unbacked dollar? I'd like to see the gold standard brought back, that's for sure, and its equally as sure that its not gonna happen.

So far so good, oh no, a last question. Decleration of Independence states that all man are equal and that all have the right to defend their selves vs government. I assume that you completely underwright the D of I. Isn't the D of I some sort of pact with other countries that have simulair declarations? I mean, shouldn't the US always support others in their battle vs government? Or are they less equal?

No, the Declaration of Independence is not at all a pact with other countries. Its a declaration of independence from England, and an assertion that all people have the right to life, liberty, the pursuit of happiness (which was a broader way of replacing the original text: property). The government's responsibility is to preserve the peace and defend its citizenry, and it should stick to those roles.

I've got to say its not very 'love they neighbour'. It seems incredibly selfish and self serving actually. I know its a cliche but I think you should seriously ask yourself 'What would Jesus Do'.

Okay, massive mis-perception here. You believe that because I think the government should not be involved in the plight of the underclass, thus, we should turn a deaf ear. Not at all. I give to charities, and so does my family. But, it should be the individual or the private organization doing this, not the government.

I mean seriously. Wouldn't you rather give $1000 to a charity of your choice, or have the government reach into your pocket to snatch $1000 from you, filter it through a bureaucratic mess and finally get $10 to the people on the streets? I'll take the first option, thanks. And I believe its a more Christian belief than that of "give money to the government and hope that it goes to helping poor people instead of teaching sex ed to preschoolers."