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Penn Jillette: Why I’m a Libertarian Nut Instead of Just a Nut
Glenn Beck dot com ^ | May 20, 2009 - 11:27 ET | Penn Gillette

Posted on 05/20/2009 2:10:08 PM PDT by FreeKeys

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To: chuck_the_tv_out
And yet you can freely access the vilest of porn at government-funded libraries.

Law of Unintended Consequences is inviolable. Government is not the solution to our problem...

41 posted on 05/20/2009 3:01:20 PM PDT by Aevery_Freeman (Our Last Best Hope: REPEAL THE 16th AMENDMENT!)
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To: Tribune7

Well, at least FReepers are able to rationally understand what his true message was. I’m not so confident that others will.


42 posted on 05/20/2009 3:05:05 PM PDT by SoldierDad (Proud Dad of a U.S. Army Infantry Soldier presently instructing at Ft. Benning.)
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To: Notary Sojac

We need a Conservative Party—with Libertarian Ideals but without the egghead notions expressed by them. Ron Paul is my idea of a good thinker. Still, I would welcome Penn and Teller into a new Conservative Party but don’t see their show unless you can handle the F-word being used a lot.


43 posted on 05/20/2009 3:05:20 PM PDT by Forward the Light Brigade (Into the Jaws of H*ll)
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To: Aevery_Freeman

“Government is not the solution to our problem”

sure absolutely. no one here thinks that it is.


44 posted on 05/20/2009 3:12:52 PM PDT by chuck_the_tv_out (click my name)
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To: SoldierDad

We really could nitpick this thing to death.

Bottom line: I like it when a Hollywood-type is an in-your-face NON-lefty. Conservative would be better than Libertarian, but it still feels like a small victory.


45 posted on 05/20/2009 3:14:10 PM PDT by neocon1984
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To: Forward the Light Brigade

“Ron Paul is my idea of a good thinker”

He’s my idea of someone who’s heart is in the right place.


46 posted on 05/20/2009 3:14:35 PM PDT by chuck_the_tv_out (click my name)
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To: FreeKeys

Social conservatism does not have to mean executing abortionists or locking up people suspected of homosexual behavior. Certainly it would be a big achievement if the govt simply stopped *promoting* such behavior ($ for planned parenthood, special gay rights such as marriage) but there is a lot the govt can do without being coercive or expansionist. If the govt can put out an ad campaign to encourage people to join the Army or discourage drugs, it should also encourage better, perhaps private education or discourage abortion. It all falls under the ‘power’ of the bully pulpit; the govt should be able to use the modern media.


47 posted on 05/20/2009 3:19:12 PM PDT by ari-freedom (Fiscal conservatism without social conservatism is dead.)
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To: chuck_the_tv_out

“Fudge” and “sodomy” in the same sentence is a somewhat less than ideal way of expressing a serious point. But hey, we all have our days.

I agree that “libertarian” is less well defined than many political labels. FYI, I consider myself a libertarian conservative. Or was it conservative libertarian? It’s so easy to get mixed up on these things.


48 posted on 05/20/2009 3:19:17 PM PDT by neocon1984
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To: AlaskaErik
Same here. The only major issue where I disagree with Libertarians is legalization of recreational drugs.

Not shutting down the Border Patrol and opening the border, not totally unrestricted abortion, not fully opening the military and adoption to homosexuals?

49 posted on 05/20/2009 3:21:05 PM PDT by ansel12 (Romney (guns)"instruments of destruction with the sole purpose of hunting down and killing people")
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To: chuck_the_tv_out
If you want societal acceptance of homos, leading to more & more teaching of the joys of sodomy to kids in school, then please say so. If you want legalized drugs, then please, say so.

The Wickard Commerce Clause is used by fedgov for hate crime laws¹, gun control, Obamacare, the WOD, and a host of others.

Do you think Wickard is in keeping with the original meaning of the Commerce Clause?

_____________________________________

¹H.R. 1913

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

Congress makes the following findings:

(1) The incidence of violence motivated by the actual or perceived race, color, religion, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, or disability of the victim poses a serious national problem.

-snip-

(6) Such violence substantially affects interstate commerce in many ways, including the following:

-snip-

50 posted on 05/20/2009 3:23:54 PM PDT by Ken H
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To: neocon1984

I’ve had a great day! I suppose I could have used the thesaurus. But I thought it was such a lowbrow innuendo that it would pass right under everyone here.... http://thesaurus.reference.com/browse/fudge

I think a conservative IS a libertarian, by definition. A libertarian, on the other hand, I want to know on a case by case basis just WHY they wish to be differentiated that way. Some it’s drugs. Some it’s sodomy (but then why aren’t they against teaching it in schools? why aren’t they against the anti-libertarian laws that are pro-homo?). It’s usually particular things.


51 posted on 05/20/2009 3:26:19 PM PDT by chuck_the_tv_out (click my name)
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To: Ken H

of course not. the federal government should be out of all of those kinds of things. of course it’s a travesty. I’ve said so many times.


52 posted on 05/20/2009 3:28:40 PM PDT by chuck_the_tv_out (click my name)
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To: itsahoot
He is also violently Anti-Christian, calling the Bible bullshit.

I think the bible is mostly BS, but that doesn't make me anti-Christian. Show me where Mr. Gilette has called for Christians to be discriminated against.

53 posted on 05/20/2009 3:31:55 PM PDT by Clemenza (Remember our Korean War Veterans)
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To: chuck_the_tv_out

I think that you have left out the Ayn Rand-type libertarians. Leaving aside her many flaws and psychiatric conditions, her libertarianism was all about the power and dignity of the individual versus the evil of the state.


54 posted on 05/20/2009 3:34:45 PM PDT by neocon1984
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To: Notary Sojac
I’m more convinced every day that the Republicans and the Democrats are morphing into the WWE: lots of bluster, lots of “rivalry”, but everyone gets to stick around for next month’s show, and both the heroes and villains get their paychecks from the same boyz.

I've been saying the same thing for years. But your analogy is better than mine. I think I'll steal it...

55 posted on 05/20/2009 3:47:42 PM PDT by jdub (A patriot must always be ready to defend his country against his government.)
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To: rabscuttle385; FreeKeys

This is great stuff. Thanks for the post and the ping.


56 posted on 05/20/2009 4:08:16 PM PDT by dcwusmc (We need to make government so small that it can be drowned in a bathtub.)
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To: chuck_the_tv_out

“Just who is against those principles?”

Anyone who believes in using the power of the State to control, in any way, the non-coercive, voluntary behavior of other people. You, for example.


57 posted on 05/20/2009 4:11:16 PM PDT by dcwusmc (We need to make government so small that it can be drowned in a bathtub.)
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To: SoldierDad

So you DON’T have to use physical force to kill that cow for your steak? Like the ones I’m fixing for dinner tonight? How do YOU kill your cows? THINK them dead? Get real.

What he’s saying is that if you want someone to do something in your name and on your behalf, you need to be legitimately able and willing to do it yourself, as well. And he is correct.


58 posted on 05/20/2009 4:15:22 PM PDT by dcwusmc (We need to make government so small that it can be drowned in a bathtub.)
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To: Drango

We went to see Penn and Teller in LV expecting it to be their Bullshit act that we have seen on TV, or something like it. It was a magic show! A boring magic show, I couldn’t wait for it to be over.


59 posted on 05/20/2009 4:18:13 PM PDT by Ditter
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To: ghost of nixon

Yes you can take your kids, not a curse word in their boring magic show.


60 posted on 05/20/2009 4:19:46 PM PDT by Ditter
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