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What Am I?
Townhall.com ^ | April 07, 2010 | John Stossel

Posted on 04/08/2010 7:21:50 AM PDT by Onelifetogive

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To: Onelifetogive

21 posted on 04/08/2010 8:14:47 AM PDT by Travis McGee (---www.EnemiesForeignAndDomestic.com---)
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To: Onelifetogive
By contrast, libertarians want government to leave people alone -- in both the economic and personal spheres. Leave us free to pursue our hopes and dreams, as long as we don't hurt anybody else.

I'm for all of this - but I also believe a government has the responsibility to control national borders and regulate immigration, or the concept of a nation for the government to govern is meaningless. Nation-building is often essential - certainly the current day governments and societies of Germany and Japan have been heavily influenced by post-WWII American nation-building efforts, to our benefit. When libertarians start preaching head-in-the-sand isolationism, they lose me.
22 posted on 04/08/2010 8:37:36 AM PDT by AnotherUnixGeek
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To: rstrahan

I doubt the Founding Fathers would have approved of abortion for convenience.


23 posted on 04/08/2010 8:39:07 AM PDT by GeronL (There is only a "Happily ever after" for you if you're the one writing your own script)
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To: Loud Mime

I like the tagline. If the Constitution were followed, we’d have very different political parties for sure.


24 posted on 04/08/2010 8:40:43 AM PDT by GeronL (There is only a "Happily ever after" for you if you're the one writing your own script)
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To: Onelifetogive

The problem I have with libertarians is that they are often illogical and inconsistent in their application of their stated core principles of keeping the government out of the way and maximizing the liberty of the individual also they entirely disregard ideas of natural rights versus trumped up government designed rights that have a primary purpose of restricting the rights of others to associate and exercise free speech as their conscience dictates.

An libertarian if true to their principles would be steadfastly pro-life especially when concerning a normal health pregnancy. This would be based on a simple idea that an unborn child should no more be deprived of liberty than a born child regardless of the will of the parents. A libertarian would hardly support the idea that parents or communities should be able to kill or sacrifice babies who have not achieved independent person-hood simple because it does not directly impact the liberties of others. A libertarian I would think would be clear on this and would see the danger of allowing any ambiguity on such a critical issue of liberty as it relates to individuals.

Also libertarians even if they do not agree with all points on the above issue should at a minimum object to the idea of a government using tax payers money to encourage or provide abortions in any case. They should also stand solidly against the government disregarding the natural rights of parents in concern for the well being of minor children for whom they are responsible for. They should object to the government intrusion into issues of privacy, sexuality, religion, and health in relation to these minors without parental consent and without any evidence of explicit danger to the child.

Libertarians also should be entirely opposed to efforts of the government intrusion in the freedom to associate and on clear grounds oppose thought crime laws and on purist grounds oppose efforts to force the acceptance of such ideas as gay marriage and the creation of laws to silence and intimidate those who disagree.


25 posted on 04/08/2010 8:40:53 AM PDT by Maelstorm (Some want to enslave your body others your soul.)
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To: GeronL

Misinformation about libertarians is rampant. Open borders? Well, the GOP hasn’t done much about that problem, mainly because they like cheap labor. I think eventually Mexico must be made part of the US. Right to life? That’s a moral issue, and as a libertarian I believe abortion is murder of the innocent. There isn’t going to be a government solution to that one either. Age of consent? When you have the government selectively enforcing arbitrary standards based strictly on age, the results haven’t been very good either. Personal responsibility is the answer to all of these problems. If you need the government to enforce morals like not invading other people’s countries, not murdering innocent unborn babies, not talking advantage of immature girls, then you’re admitting you’ve lost the battle. Libertarians don’t support any of those behaviors, they believe that the government won’t solve every human problem, in fact, they almost always make the problem worse.


26 posted on 04/08/2010 8:48:57 AM PDT by rockhardo (Socialism creates its own hell.)
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To: Repeat Offender

Please, leave the name-calling to the liberals. What specifically about Ron Paul’s ideas don’t you like?


27 posted on 04/08/2010 8:53:16 AM PDT by rockhardo (Socialism creates its own hell.)
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To: downtownconservative
"I’m convinced he’s also an atheist or agnostic who fails to appreciate the sanctity of life, so the abortion issue isn’t high on his priority list. . . . He is quite a bit off in his over simplification of conservatism."

How does it follow that an agnostic fails to appreciate the sanctity of life? My take on libertarianism is that it prizes life more highly than any other political ideology, inasmuch as it puts individual liberty at the top. Also, specifically how is he "off" on his opinion of conservatism?

28 posted on 04/08/2010 8:57:47 AM PDT by rockhardo (Socialism creates its own hell.)
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To: bgill
I see the date but this sounds suspiciously like another article posted on FR not long ago.

I searched the title...

Stossel is lately making a big point of his libertarianism.

29 posted on 04/08/2010 9:03:53 AM PDT by Onelifetogive (Flame away...)
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To: Notary Sojac
Already posted with 200+ replies

I searched the title. I think the search routine has trouble with the title have a very common word and two other words shorter than 3 letters.

I searched again, by title, and it finds neither one! Maybe I'm doing it wrong...

30 posted on 04/08/2010 9:10:14 AM PDT by Onelifetogive (Flame away...)
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To: Little Ray
I have learned that most “victimless crimes” are not victimless. The consequences of “victimless crimes” often snowball destroying lives and families, and leading to crime and violence.

I struggle with this. I don't want to tell people what to do with their lives, but I also don't want to be in their "collateral damage zone."

31 posted on 04/08/2010 9:14:03 AM PDT by Onelifetogive (Flame away...)
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To: rockhardo
Also, specifically how is he "off" on his opinion of conservatism?

I think post 12 covers that pretty well.

32 posted on 04/08/2010 9:27:48 AM PDT by Onelifetogive (Flame away...)
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To: Onelifetogive

I sometimes wonder whether the FR search function could find a moth with a searchlight.


33 posted on 04/08/2010 9:34:59 AM PDT by Notary Sojac (Mi Tio es infermo, pero la carretera es verde!)
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To: Onelifetogive

That’s the problem.

You can’t get out of the collateral damage zone. Even if you dodge the bullet, there are friends and family to consider. Tolerate a druggie, and he can turn your neighborhood into a toxic waste dump brewing meth. Tolerate prostitutes, and they can spread disease. Tolerate scumbags in your neighborhoods and property values can go to hell.

I love L. Neil Smith’s books. My idea of paradise is his “North American Confederation.” But I know it won’t work. People don’t just “mind their own business” and their behaviors don’t affect just themselves. Anarchy doesn’t work. It ends up like Somalia.


34 posted on 04/08/2010 9:36:02 AM PDT by Little Ray (The Gods of the Copybook Headings with terror and slaughter return!)
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To: rockhardo
lack of support for the War in Iraq

doesn' recognize marriage as one man + one woman (voted against it; and voted against homo marriage ban)

opposes death penalty at state and fed level

supports alternatives to prison

Doesn't support US mission in SKorea

Anti-Israel

Thinks gun manufacturers can be sued because someone else misused a gun

voted against a law banning the transport of minors accross state lines for abortions

And he thinks we brought terrorism on ourselves.....

....and he's a truther

So, in otherwords, America shouldn't stand up for itself, and can't attack a country plotting and preparing to attack us. That's like standing there going "come on come one, hit me." And waiting for the other guy to land a knock out punch; just so you can say he hit me first.

He also thinks we shouldn't maintain the peace where our men have died to preserve (and can project US strength from), wouldn't mind if the communists wiped out SKorea at the hands of China and Russia. Believes I should have to wait for gun, yet if someone kills me during my waiting period, they shouldn't be executed and may possibly get "alternative punishment." But, don't worry my parents/wife can still sue Colt because my killer misused an evil gun.

All the while allowing the state MORE authority to engage in marriage (a religious insitution the state has no business in) that the fag lobby can use to pressure churches into "marrying" fags.

Essentially Ron Paul is a pascifist, commie tolerating liberal, that believes we can rehabilitate even the most vile criminals..... just don't tell him what to do.... ie a spoiled brat from the 60s that never grew up

No thanks.

35 posted on 04/08/2010 9:40:42 AM PDT by Repeat Offender (While the wicked stand confounded, call me with Thy Saints surrounded)
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To: downtownconservative
fails to appreciate the sanctity of life, so the abortion issue isn’t high on his priority list

I think there are a lot of us who appreciate the sanctity of life, but recognize that there is not much we can do about it at the national political level.

As many babies have been killed, year upon year, under Christian, pro-life Presidents as there have been under the opposition.

The culture is changing from a pro-abortion to a pro-life viewpoint. It will reach critical mass when enough hearts have been changed.

36 posted on 04/08/2010 9:40:45 AM PDT by Notary Sojac (Mi Tio es infermo, pero la carretera es verde!)
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To: rhombus
Do libertarians have arguments over who is a real libertarian? Are they waiting for a leader who is pure?

"libertarians" do not.

But "Libertarians" do.

Boy, do they ever.

It makes the arguments on FR about who is a RINO look like a cordial Sunday afternoon game of croquet.

One of the reasons I left the Libertarian Party after a brief membership in the early '90s.

37 posted on 04/08/2010 9:45:26 AM PDT by Notary Sojac (Mi Tio es infermo, pero la carretera es verde!)
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To: Le Chien Rouge
"I am a FISCAL libertarian.Period."

Cool! Cafeteria-style libertarianism.

Personally I prefer my libertarianism wrapped in bacon with a pat of real butter melting on top.

38 posted on 04/08/2010 9:48:01 AM PDT by who_would_fardels_bear (These fragments I have shored against my ruins)
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To: Onelifetogive

bfl


39 posted on 04/08/2010 9:59:53 AM PDT by Badray (sic semper tyrannis)
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To: Repeat Offender

you sure can talk buddy.


40 posted on 04/08/2010 10:07:26 AM PDT by TexasFirecracker ("Reach for the sky, ya yella-bellied, lily-livered varmint!!")
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