Posted on 06/09/2011 1:38:51 PM PDT by markomalley
Everybody knows that libertarians are greedy capitalists who favor the maximization of profit above all else. “Taxation is theft!” they cry, but the exploitation of the working classes fails to elicit any similar moral outrage. Libertarians, everybody knows, care about the rich to the utter neglect of the poor and vulnerable.
But everybody is wrong.
The reason for the common misperception, of course, is that libertarians oppose many of the governmental policies that are commonly thought to benefit the poor and working classes. Libertarians oppose redistributive taxation, oppose the minimum wage, oppose workplace safety regulations, antitrust laws, and many other restrictions on business. But none of this means that libertarians are indifferent to the plight of the poor. After all, just because you care about something doesn’t mean you want the government taking care of it.
People make three important errors when thinking about libertarianism and the poor.
The first mistake is to believe the government when it claims that its policies are intended to help the poor. They almost never are. The great bulk of redistributive taxation and subsidization goes to benefit interest groups that are politically powerful, not economically vulnerable. Think Medicare, agricultural subsidies, and the mortgage interest deduction. And most existing regulation of business is, paradoxically enough, for the benefit of business itself. Regulation raises the cost of doing business, and so establishes a barrier to entry that benefits large existing firms at the expense of their smaller competitors. Occupational licensing, for example, whether of doctors, lawyers, or barbers, is almost never forced upon an unwilling industry by public-spirited regulators. Rather, it is actively sought after by established members of the profession itself, eager to insulate themselves against potential competition. And politicians are all-too-willing to
(Excerpt) Read more at dailycaller.com ...
By making more of them.................
Smell No Cannabis Evil
Weekend Libertarian ^ | 9 June, 2011 | B.P. Terpstra
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2732002/posts
Just saw a classic example of this in my state and field over the last few years.
In this particular case, it was a small group within the profession that succeeded in forcing licensing onto everybody else. Nobody ever took a poll or survey to determine what was wanted.
It would be truly refreshing to see a libertarian on FR dis the mortgage interest deduction.
The typical quasi-libertarian line around here is "No new taxes. Eliminating a deduction is equivalent to raising a tax. Anyone in favor of eliminating an existing deduction is a commie socialist scumbag."
“Ending the war on drugs, for instance, would disproportionately benefit poor families who live in neighborhoods destroyed by the gang violence created by criminalization, or those who lack the financial and social resources to keep their children out of prison for crimes of mere possession.”
Ugh, what nonsense. One of the reasons these families stay poor is because their kids get strung out on drugs in the first place. Enforcement against drug dealers in the neighbourhood needs to be greater and not lesser, deal with the drugs, and you can protect your family.
If you treat possession as a serious issue, then your kids are not going to be one of the statistics and they have a shot at a better future.
The writer of this article has never lived in a crack infested neighbourhood and tried to make a living there.
The members of a ‘profession’ limit their competition by having their ‘friends’ in the legislature require licenses.
Pretty soon, we’ll have to have licenses for hamburger flippers or street sweepers. It’s a way to ‘unionize’ without the union................
they live in their theoretical drug induced haze just like a libtard - they want planes crashing everywhere and all of us on deathbeds from antibiotic resistant disease
but hey - small price to pay so they can escape the misery of their pathetic lives without fear of the popo
Libertarians want to legalize drugs so poor people can afford them too. LOL
I am not anti-Libertarian, but they a so easy to make fun of.
The best way to help the poor is to continously raise the productivity of labor.
Goofy- Paul 2012
LOL
You haven’t been talking to people like me then. No new taxes. Repeal most of the old ones. No deductions. Reduce spending, State and Fed, to <1% of GDP.
Note: There were no crack houses before the drug war.
Another Note: Notice how speak-easies disappeared after alcohol prohibition ended?
Yeah... Same thing.
For a dead corpse, you’re rather refreshing!
Pine tree air freshener. Works every time, one in every car repo’ed.
A wee bit redundant, no?
You again? I’ve lived in several neighbourhoods. If you think the poor is helped by lax enforcement, think again.
Libertarianism is perfect if they would promote virtuous behavior...the behavior that the Founders knew was essential for a free people.
Your government has to promote the (few) laws that reward the good and punish the bad....it is that simple, yet Libertarians deny that we have a standard based on God’s Laws....which is in our Founding documents.
They want to say that morality has no business in government when that is the only purpose of any laws. (Thou shalt not steal, kill, commit adultery). Government has to make sure that societies are run so people are not using other people as a means to their ends (Marxism). This idea (Austin, Bentham, Holmes) that morality can be separated from our legal system is the BIG LIE.
To have a civil society that can interact efficiently and productively in a safe environment....morality is essential...stated as “virtue” by the Founders. The more virtuous, the more freedom.
In the 18th century it was a common idea among everyone that acting with virtue was the only thing that created happiness. It is proven throughout societies....evil, immoral behavior causes destruction of the civil body and damage, both monetarily and emotionally, that damages the culture. Children are particularly vulnerable to damage, and emotionally damaged children, like the sodomized Manson, end up causing death and destruction. You can never have a “civil” society if there is no moral standard. The Bible has been the most successful standard for free people in all of history.
It is government’s responsibility to make sure that every law enacted, promotes the good and discourages the bad. It makes sure there is equality among all the people with no special rights for anyone unless it is essential to the virtue and future of a culture—like the uniting of the sexes and establishing a support system for children like the natural family. Inalieanble right to biological parents is a child’s right for the best chance at happiness and needs to be highly encouraged and attempts to diminish this unit need to be discriminated against since it goes against nature. Our legal system is aligned to Natural Law Theory and so, everything can not be encouraged....particularly unnatural things with demean the body and make people commodities....like prostitution. It leads to inhumanity toward human beings and is the slippery slope.
Today’s government is totally unconstitutional because it goes against the fundamental principles of our legal system (Judge Joseph Story’s Commentaries). Marxists have destroyed the “equal under the law” and give special rights to their buddies and lobbyists who bribe them.
Libertarians have to understand that, yes, they are right about free markets....but the law does have to exist where humans are treated as commodities (no slavery, prostitution, drugs that damage the body) where humans are not treated with dignity, worth and equality, using the logic and reason of Natural Law Theory and God’s laws as that standard of “right and wrong”.
Repeat: God’s standard....not allah’s, not Marx’s....but God’s. There is a difference and our Constitution is clear on their standards that Libertarians want to ignore.
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