Libertarians' Awkward Bedfellows

Townhall.com ^ | February 27, 2013 | John Stossel

[Dysart]

here are those of us who see the wholesale evisceration of the Fourth Amendment & billions of dollars spent by the Republicrats on the failed War On (some) Drugs to involve important & basic principles of liberty.

Won't disagree with you there. And yet, for many, if not most, it becomes a moral question of recreational drug use at the exclusion of all other matters of importance. Who makes this issue nearly the centerpiece of contemporary Libertarianism? Insiders or allies? Ideological rivals, perhaps? And why?

[Hemingway's Ghost]

This reasonable, sane commentary cannot be posted on Free Republic.

[Orangedog]

the Libertarian party would increase their influence 100-fold if instead of pointlessly fielding their own impossible longshot candidates they would endorse the R or D candidate they feel best exemplifies their principles in national senate and congressional races.

Considering what the establishment offers up every cycle, that's like chosing the venerial disease that's just right for me. No one makes it to the top of those tickets unless they are bought, paid for and fully compromised.

You guys should probably get used to being a permanent political minority because you all can't get along with the one group you have the most in common with (libertarians). When you can't get along with people who just want you to leave them alone and in turn will leave you alone, well, you better suck up to the feckless soccer moms again. But be ready for them to turn on you again, if they'll even listen to you.

[Hemingway's Ghost]

So despite every attempt, I just don’t know how the differences can be bridged.

Apply the same political standards you would in the fiscal realm to the social realm as well.

[sickoflibs]

RE:”We're living in a country that is 70 percent socialist,” she says. “The government takes 60 percent of your money. They take care of your health care, your pensions ... who you can hire ... and you (libertarians) want to suck up to your little liberal friends and say, oh, we want to legalize pot? ... If you were a little manlier, you'd tell liberals what your position on employment discrimination is.”

Entertaining thought.

“I am against big guberment so legalize gay marriage and pot and illegals,
but you can keep all those gubment programs going, they dont bother me, in fact I kind of like the student loans.”

[JustSayNoToNannies]

there is a difference between liberty and license.

Which is what, exactly?

Did you read the rest of my post?

Yes, and I didn't see my question addressed. If you did address it, please specify which part of your post did so.

[Hemingway's Ghost]

A Libertarian is just a Democrat who doesn’t want to pay his own taxes.

Okay, but turnabout is fair play, no?

A Republican is just a Democrat who's been bent over the sink by Barry O a few too many times and discovered hey, it's not that bad . . . I can get into playing this game too . . .

[Responsibility2nd]

Who makes this issue nearly the centerpiece of contemporary Libertarianism? Insiders or allies? Ideological rivals, perhaps? And why?
 

Good question. But legalized drugs is not the only focus of libertarians. They are pro-amnestry, pro-gay marriage, for open borders, and a whole host of other liberal ideals.

And the liberal FReepers we still have around here are very clever in distancing themselves from the pro-gay marriage concerns, as that would get them zotted, so what do they yammer on and on and on about?

Legalized drugs.

You can see the liberalism oozing out of every pore as they spew forth Barney Frank/Ron Paul talking points on marijuana. They think themselves very clever has they hide behind the Constitution as they bad mouth SoCons. One of them (on this thread now) evidently is a paid agitator from NORML, as he cuts and pastes bullet points from their website on a daily basis.

You ask what makes legalized drugs the centerpiece of libertarians? FReepers do. And JimRob tolerates this.

(See tagline)

[Hemingway's Ghost]

When you can't get along with people who just want you to leave them alone and in turn will leave you alone, well, you better suck up to the feckless soccer moms again. But be ready for them to turn on you again, if they'll even listen to you.

Spot on.

Many of the red-meat psychos who patrol FR are so itchin' for a fight they can't distinguish between friend or foe anymore.

[JustSayNoToNannies]

One of them (on this thread now) evidently is a paid agitator from NORML, as he cuts and pastes bullet points from their website on a daily basis.

I won't hold my breath waiting for you to quote (with URLs) the NORML text that has allegedly been copied to FR by a poster on this thread.

[musicman]

Less Than $1.4k To Go!!
Just A Reminder
Please Don't Forget
To Donate To FR
This Quarter

Sponsoring FReepers are contributing
$10 Each time a New Monthly Donor signs up!
Get more bang for your FR buck!
Click Here To Sign Up Now!

[morphing libertarian]

Drugs is a centerpiece because of the billions wasted trying to stop and incarcerate people. Why wouldn’t freepers support legalization.

Why is hiding behind the constitution a bad thing. Perhaps u should rely on that yourself.

[JustSayNoToNannies]

If a new conservative government comes in and appoints new supreme court justices who throw out Roe v. Wade, would you agree, or would you say government has no right to interfere with individual choices?

I would agree - abortion kills an individual.

If your neighbors decided to prance around naked in their yards and engage in sex on their front lawn in full view of you and everyone else in the neighborhood, what right do you have to forbid them from doing something they want to do? How does two people having sex on private property harm you?

It's not the sex that violates my rights but the photons that leave their property - if they keep those photons on their property we're fine.

[ansel12]

You believe in open borders, and if it were up to libertarians the Berlin Wall would still be there.

Your open borders agenda is beyond leftist, it is actual suicide and guarantees that America is doomed and that the left will control everything.

[Responsibility2nd]

Why is hiding behind the constitution a bad thing. Perhaps u should rely on that yourself.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Typical liberal talking point: Where in the Constitution do you see the rights to criminalize marijuana?

Also: Where in the Constitution do you see the rights to restrict marriage to straights only?

And.... Where in the Constitution do you see the rights to deny an abortion?

The trouble with you liberals is that you treat the Constitution as toilet paper as you promote anti-Conservatives agendas.

[Dead Corpse]

Some would. Not “many”. Those that do will die quickly. The alternative is to continue on with trillions wasted on keeping the FSA alive.

[GeronL]

Uber libertarians are every bit as Utopian as the communists.

How exactly they think legalizing prostitution, drugs, incest, pedophilia, open borders etc is going to create a functional, stable society is beyond the realm of imagination.

[Dead Corpse]

"If it's human, killing it is murder." Doesn't matter if it isn't a full term baby. Murder is a State statute. Roe v Wade is judicial activism that create a "right to murder" and needs to go away.

Good fences, good neighbors. If I didn't want to see that, I'd build a privacy fence. Problem solved.

[mnehring]

These people aren’t incarcerated because of the ‘war on drugs’. It is because they made an individual choice to knowingly break the law. They are responsible for the consequences of their actions. It isn’t society’s fault or the man keeping them down, it is their own choices.

Or do Libertarians no longer believe in personal responsibility?

[morphing libertarian]

Typical bad reasoning and name calling.

i left lp because of abortion amongst others.

People have the right to life so why would the constitution address abortion

The first question you answer. Don’t know what gives the Feds any say over marriage

You have no strong reasons to support the war on drugs except typical nanny state.

See both of us can name call

If you come back with that weaka$$ bs I
Ll not respond, so bring your a game.