Comments on: Libertarian ‘Idiocracy’ Rising

By: Andrew T.

Andrew T. — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 03:13:50 +0000

Left/anarcho libertarians are master navel-gazers, and that article about cannibalism is a good example of it.

By: Bob Schaefer

Bob Schaefer — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 22:37:56 +0000

“My own readers are constantly seduced and pulled back, on BAB, from the brink of errant thinking—as when they fall into pacifism or social determinism.”

Thanks mom. [“Pulled back” not only by “mom,” but by you guys.]

“The sexy, rah-rah, fist-in-the air aura of anarchism has attracted the worst to the movement.”

So true. In my humble opinion anarchist nonsense continues to poison libertarian political (and Austrian economic) thinking. Devotees of anarchism are invariably arrogant and close-minded.

When one believes that government is immoral and illegitimate, it is a small leap to conclude that anything government does is immoral and illegitimate. Hence, taxation becomes theft, war becomes murder and state-enforced borders become mere lines on maps.

Anarchist political theory is fraught with error and contradiction but, as you say, it is too sexy to allow for serious debate.

(I’m still waiting for any libertarian anarchist to explain to me how a cooperative anarchist society (!) can be comprised of sovereign individuals.)

By: Myron Pauli

Myron Pauli — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 16:04:52 +0000

I certainly agree that the concept of “my cop is Lucky Luciano while your cop is Dutch Shultz” competing anarchies makes little sense. Nevertheless, what is one supposed to make of the modern Obamian-Bushian Welfare-Warfare government that simultaneously declares that Pedro the Trespasser is “illegal” but that you must pay money (called taxes) to pay for his medical benefits and “in-state” tuition while American “citizens” (or should we be called “subjects”?) pay full tuition and their own medical bills?

What does one say about a government that does not even remotely obey its own rules – such as, for example, the Constitution? Are we really ruled by a Constitutional government or by a bipartisan cabal of greedy power-hungry thugs POSING as a Constitutional government? It is tragic to have to pose questions such as this but: (1) when was the last time an act passed Congress that corresponded to Article 1 Section 8? and (2) how many decisions even rely on Congressional authorization rather than complete executive usurpation such as using the TARP money to bail out Chrysler, etc.? Remember that even Kim-Jong-Il calls his personal gulag a “Democratic People’s Republic”. Just some food for thought.

[As my mother would say, what has all this got to do with the price of eggs (namely the post).]