Hal
<< But as a political party that's so fuzzy on the specifics of critical issues and so completely unprepared to act decisively in the public interest as needed, Libertarians may not be relevant enough to attain public office, thus eventually rendering themselves extinct.>>
okay....libertarianism 101
1. Self government. You own your "own" body. You have an absolute property right in your own personage. No sovereign can tell you what you can do with it - in the bedroom in, what you put into it .
2. Voluntarism. Force or coercion of individuals pursuing and protecting their legitimate self interest is anathema.
3. Limited Government. Government is a necessary evil strictly limited to defense of our shores, and administering the system of settling disputes between individual (i.e., the criminal justice and tort system.)
Government is neutral in matters of individual choice - national public policy has no meaning in this system. Choices are left to individuals voting in the market to determine the outcomes or at the local level to set rules governing limits on behavior . The more issues are pushed down to the local levels, the more opportunity to have different solutions apropos to the community in question.
This local level principle is particularly key, given the Federal "monopoly" that currently limits individual choice everywhere. In the political arena, libertarian ideas promote the concept of "many local solutions" - this is similar to the idea of "atomistic competition" in economics. Plus, if you don't approve of your local solution, you are free to move elsewhere.
Thus, if individuals voting in the market place choose to give a a market majority to one product, government is not allowed to interdict the will of the people in exercising their choice. For, to do so would
violate the libertarian principle in the primacy of individual choice.
Libertarians take it as an axiom that markets reflect individual choices and will naturally develop alternative products if one product
becomes overpriced or pernicious. And as you know, axioms are not subject to debate. They are givens; most arguments center on people unable to accept each other's axioms.
That's what we have here, Hal. Libertarians take it as axiomatic that markets work best when left alone. You, however, believe that governments actually know what is better for individuals that they do.
You believe that the masses are dumb asses; we feel that the dumb asses are in government. You are put in the unenviable position of have to defend the status quo.
If Microsoft has won 90% of the PC operating system market, it is because individuals perceive it to be in their self-interest. Isn't that what we want - regnat populi?
Or should the state rule us? I'll trust the legacy of Thomas Jefferson over that of William Jefferson (Clinton) on that one.
Ciao,
Daniel |
