Midcan, I don't mind people criticizing libertarianism. What I do mind are ad hoc and strawman arguments against it. People tend to have a hard time understanding what it is, including conservatives that I have known, but none more so than leftists. As for the quote, all three of my signature quotes are links, so just click on them.
Thanks, while I may change a few words, I stand by that post. Sometimes I read old posts and gasp over the grammar or some other change in thinking, but that was fine.
http://www.justplainpolitics.com/sh...es-and-War&p=449348&highlight=duty#post449348
'Socrtease, funny but that piece falls in-line with most of my impressions and assumptions about conservatives. I know so many who avoided the draft in one way or the other and yet supported the war (read illegal invasion) in Iraq. 'Love' may be a bit of exaggeration, but war (military buildups) is a part of their thinking, and for the religious right a part of Gawd's plan. Remember their magical hero Ronnie brought down Russian communism and all he did was buy weapons.
I would add one significant idea or analogy to his summation of conservatism. Conservatism cannot justify, hide, or engage in their rape of the land, law, and resources without pointing their crooked finger at liberalism. It is all they can do, distracting attention from their failure is their forte.
As a lefty socialist liberal, I support the draft as I feel citizens have a responsibility to the nation that provides them the wherewithal for an excellent life - which I have had partly because of the GI bill. It is duty rather than slavery. I part with the author on the caviler idea that individual freedom (whatever that may be to the person) leads to nirvana, anyone older tha[n] 12 knows that is BS.
As is well known here, I am also opposed to libertarian thought which I see as naive and selfish.'
PS The recent economic collapse reinforces the idea unregulated markets, aka freedom, leads anywhere but to large messes.
http://www.regressiveantidote.net/Articles/Trading_Places_-_A_Tale_of_Two_Countries.html
"In other respects, however, the market is not the way to go. Letting the market take care of my health security (have we already forgotten that “managed care” was originally sold to us on the basis of bringing the wonders of the business model to medicine?) hasn’t worked out so very well. And, as we’re going to realize acutely in the coming decades, turning over environmental stewardship to the magic of the marketplace has been about as brilliant an idea as would be giving nuclear warheads to angry meth-torqued teenagers or religious lunatics sporting apocalyptic visions of the paradise that will follow global annihilation.
But, I’ve got an idea. And perhaps my (mostly imaginary) friends on the right will indulge me and play along. Let’s call it the Marketplace of Countries, shall we? Let’s take two (for the sake of simplicity) countries and compare them to each other. Then we can use the magical market modality to determine our respective assessments of them. If it turns out that one country looks a lot more attractive than the other, surely we’ll want to exercise that much vaunted power of marketplace choice, and validate that one as the superior place to live, right?"
