Libertarianism

He has been a pretty regular sparring partner of libertarians from FP.com.

If I had the time I'd dredge up some of his more famous one-liners.
 
Damocles said:
Nobody has said that the individual is "more important" that is an exaggeration and again is a misrepresentation of what people have said. The individual is what makes up society, the free individual is a portion of a free society. If the individual is not free then society is also not free.
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That is exactly what is professed among libertarians whether they come right out and say it or not.

The individual is a component of society but no individual is as important as society .. and society is not static, it is dynamic and ever changing.

The interpretation of what is "free" in libertarian thought is often counter to the freedom of society and ALL it's components.
 
blackascoal said:
That is exactly what is professed among libertarians whether they come right out and say it or not.

The individual is a component of society but no individual is as important as society .. and society is not static, it is dynamic and ever changing.

The interpretation of what is "free" in libertarian thought is often counter to the freedom of society and ALL it's components.
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Only if one does not extend the thought throughout.

Scenario. I own a property, have a right to do what I will so long as I am not, personally, intitiating force on my neighbor. What is considered initiating force? Polluting their property, certainly, staging rock concerts and keeping them up? Again, pretty certainly...

In each step you can go up, taking that one philosophy and find that the Libertarian philosophy when extended in such a way would indeed strengthen and protect the maximum freedom for each component of the society.
 
Damocles said:
Only if one does not extend the thought throughout.

Scenario. I own a property, have a right to do what I will so long as I am not, personally, intitiating force on my neighbor. What is considered initiating force? Polluting their property, certainly, staging rock concerts and keeping them up? Again, pretty certainly...

In each step you can go up, taking that one philosophy and find that the Libertarian philosophy when extended in such a way would indeed strengthen and protect the maximum freedom for each component of the society.
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Humankind and Americans have a socio-ethical responsibility to each other which is completely missing from libertarian thought. Taxes and the development of social safety-nets are a necessary function of government and a benefit to society.

You do indeed have a right to your property within limits. You cannot park trucks on your front lawn, nor should you be allowed to. If you live in a sub-division, you cannot paint your house pink, nor should you be allowed to.

Civil Rights laws exist because they are a necessary function of government to protect all it's citizens, in spite of individual claims of rights to do whatever they want.

FEMA, FDA, CDC, and the EPA exists because we are a nation, not a motley collection of individuals. We have a responsibility to each other and to protect the health of the nation.
 
blackascoal said:
Humankind and Americans have a socio-ethical responsibility to each other which is completely missing from libertarian thought. Taxes and the development of social safety-nets are a necessary function of government and a benefit to society.

You do indeed have a right to your property within limits. You cannot park trucks on your front lawn, nor should you be allowed to. If you live in a sub-division, you cannot paint your house pink, nor should you be allowed to.

Civil Rights laws exist because they are a necessary function of government to protect all it's citizens, in spite of individual claims of rights to do whatever they want.

FEMA, FDA, CDC, and the EPA exists because we are a nation, not a motley collection of individuals. We have a responsibility to each other and to protect the health of the nation.
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But nationalism is wrong!?
 
blackascoal said:
Humankind and Americans have a socio-ethical responsibility to each other which is completely missing from libertarian thought. Taxes and the development of social safety-nets are a necessary function of government and a benefit to society.

You do indeed have a right to your property within limits. You cannot park trucks on your front lawn, nor should you be allowed to. If you live in a sub-division, you cannot paint your house pink, nor should you be allowed to.

Civil Rights laws exist because they are a necessary function of government to protect all it's citizens, in spite of individual claims of rights to do whatever they want.

FEMA, FDA, CDC, and the EPA exists because we are a nation, not a motley collection of individuals. We have a responsibility to each other and to protect the health of the nation.
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I couldn't paint my house pink, if I moved voluntarily into a Home Owner's Association, which would still be the same in Libertarian Philosophy. You choose to move there, just as you do today.

Civil Rights laws are not outside of the realm of Libertarian philosophy, if you make them retaliatory rather than an initiation of force. Nor is FDA, CDC, or the EPA. Shoot even FEMA, funded correctly, could exist in a Libertarian society. None of these would be impossible in a Libertarian society, they would just take on different forms.
 
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