• Burnt@lemmy.one
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    1 year ago

    I miss seeing policies from other libertarians like this!

    So fucking sick of the ancaps and how most people view libertarians as just an extension of conservatives that want small government now. They pretty much took over r/libertarian the last few years and pushed out the “socialist” libertarians.

    • sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.works
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      1 year ago

      Yeah, I hate that sub. It was okay ~5 years ago, but the last few years it’s basically just nonsense.

      Essentially, if you don’t see libertarian socialism and anarchocapitalism as valid extremes of the same ideology, your view of libertarianism is flawed. Anarchocapitalists view private property as their core principle, and libertarian socialists don’t recognize it at all, yet they both consider themselves libertarian. The focus should be on the anti-authoritarian nature of libertarianism, which imo revolves around the Non-Aggression Principle, not property rights. Yet when I look at that sub or most “libertarian” crypto bros and whatnot, they look more like fascists than libertarians.

      My favorite libertarian “spokesperson” is Penn Jillette, and his main focus is on the use of force. A quote:

      My question is: What would I personally use a gun to accomplish? I would use a gun to stop a rape. I would use a gun to stop a terrorist attack. I would not use a gun to build a library. My morality is such that if I’m not willing to use violence myself, I’d never use violence because I’m a coward, but theoretically if I’m not willing to use violence myself then I can’t condone the government using violence.

      You end up having to draw a line somewhere. I just draw the line towards more freedom.

      So that’s it for me. When it comes to a policy, I look to see if there’s a way to solve the problem with more freedom.

      I don’t like the NIT, but I see it as an improvement over welfare programs because it gives people more choice in how to use those allocated dollars. I don’t like raising taxes, but the alternative to solving budget problems is screwing with monetary policy, and to me that’s worse because most people don’t understand monetary policy. And so on. I want transparency and simplicity from government, and generally lean toward freedom when faced with a decision.