Mailing it in today, eh Scott? Come on – I can find all the Carlin on the web that I want to hear as well.
Re: Carlin – I don’t know how so many Libertarians consider him a hero of Libertarianism. He’s a critic of government and the establishment, no doubt. But much of his philosophy is socialist.
Stressors,
I’ve been blogging over at Alternet this week and it’s been quite eye-opening. The context is an article by Naomi Klein who worries that Obama’s stated “love of the market” will be bad for us. The comments I’ve made are pretty standard libertarian positions on markets and the state. What is amazing is how hostile people are towards me personally–which doesn’t bother me–and liberty more generally, which does bother me very much.
If you have some time, please lend a hand over there. I can’t take it anymore. Just try to kill ‘em with kindness, though. Being a douche, libertarian or otherwise, doesn’t work.
The story is here and I’m blogging under the name “Spaceshipdefender” (don’t ask).
Sorry that I haven’t had time for positing here lately. I’m trying to find a new career.
I don’t have much expertise in economics, but a good tack would be to show that supposed “protection” of government regulators from the “greedy, malicious, conniving capitalists” is really a false dichotomy. The government and business work hand in hand to take your money and freedom. The government is not your defender from the evil capitalist bent on enslaving you, raping your wife and eating your children, they’re working together to do that.
I feel for you MikeL. I’m working on my Master’s in English and we are all Marxist Feminists now. Any other view points are uncivilized and vulgar. And it’s people like you who stand between them and a better world, so curl up in the fetal position and try to protect your internal organs when the kicking begins. I don’t know if anyone else has come to this conclusion, but, at this point, arguing with these people almost seems to be a lost cause to me. If FEMA after Katrina didn’t convince them, I fear we have no chance until something in them changes and, like an addict, they decide to kick the socialist habit on their own. Then, we can embrace them with open arms. But, maybe I’m just being a wee bit pessimistic. Certainly, you’re fightin’ and good fight. I just don’t know how much ground you’ll gain in hostile territory. And to think, the Democrats used to be the free traders!
That was “bad” government, they want “good” government. Whatever the government fails at, it’s always better that they’re doing it because there’s “accountability”, while greedy capitalists or charities apparently aren’t held to account.
And I feel your pain, Amber. English and Humanities departments in the US are intellectual wastelands of ideological conformity and academic gobbledygook. I hope that you survive…..and then stay as far away from a PhD program as you can.
If they’re curious, they’ll come to you. Don’t go to them and try to force them to think in a rational way. That’s a waste of time. Only the ones that are intellectually curious are worth saving anyway, and they will come to us of their own free will. The rest are as it was said in The Matrix “hopelessly dependent on the system, and they’ll fight to protect it.”
I guess that the other concern is that today’s lefty may very well be tomorrow’s leader. With Obama in the white house there will likely be a Keynesian revival. And from what I gather from the Alternet crowd, the revival will be led by leftwing fanatics who are becoming nearly as scary to me as fundamentalists and neocons. I mean, some of these people have completely lost their minds over things like nationalized health care, global warming, and apparent economic “inequality.” I’ve argued here before that the rank and file Republican is unreachable. Now I’m thinking the same thing about the American Left.
I know, one of those Alternet lefties wrote that they were hoping for another New Deal. I haven’t studied a lot about economics, but one of them wrote something about how during the New Deal some type of investments went up (I can’t remember exactly). Do you know what the whole “modern capitalism” is generally stagnant argument comes from? What are they basing that off of?
Troy,
I don’t know where they get that “chronic stagnation” thing. I think that was from Marx but I don’t know enough to say for sure. Maybe it’s part of Keynes as well. It matters not, though. I think they’d make stuff up over there anyway, just to throw dirt in your face. And yeah, these calls for another New Deal are scaring the shit out of me.
That makes sense. This is a bit off topic, but of my favorites is when lefties say: “I’m tired of the comparison between socialism and fascism. Fascism was a right-wing movement and while they did use some of the same methods as socialists, their intent was to just calm the masses. While socialism had true egalitarian motives, to uplift the poor and needy.” Let he who is without sin set prices I suppose.
Troy,
Thinking about it some more, Marxists think that stagnation arises in a capitalist economy as a result of monopoly. Producers that monopolize a market can set prices as high as they want, so their theory goes, which further hinders economic growth. What they don’t get is that it takes a Higher Power like the state helping to secure a monopoly. Without the state, competition from cheaper producers should undermine the monopoly. And in reality, monopolies are so rare as to hardly be concerned with.
Mailing it in today, eh Scott? Come on – I can find all the Carlin on the web that I want to hear as well.
Re: Carlin – I don’t know how so many Libertarians consider him a hero of Libertarianism. He’s a critic of government and the establishment, no doubt. But much of his philosophy is socialist.
Stressors,
I’ve been blogging over at Alternet this week and it’s been quite eye-opening. The context is an article by Naomi Klein who worries that Obama’s stated “love of the market” will be bad for us. The comments I’ve made are pretty standard libertarian positions on markets and the state. What is amazing is how hostile people are towards me personally–which doesn’t bother me–and liberty more generally, which does bother me very much.
If you have some time, please lend a hand over there. I can’t take it anymore. Just try to kill ‘em with kindness, though. Being a douche, libertarian or otherwise, doesn’t work.
The story is here and I’m blogging under the name “Spaceshipdefender” (don’t ask).
Sorry that I haven’t had time for positing here lately. I’m trying to find a new career.
I don’t have much expertise in economics, but a good tack would be to show that supposed “protection” of government regulators from the “greedy, malicious, conniving capitalists” is really a false dichotomy. The government and business work hand in hand to take your money and freedom. The government is not your defender from the evil capitalist bent on enslaving you, raping your wife and eating your children, they’re working together to do that.
Tell ‘em not to worry about it anyway. Obama has no “love” for free markets.
I feel for you MikeL. I’m working on my Master’s in English and we are all Marxist Feminists now. Any other view points are uncivilized and vulgar. And it’s people like you who stand between them and a better world, so curl up in the fetal position and try to protect your internal organs when the kicking begins. I don’t know if anyone else has come to this conclusion, but, at this point, arguing with these people almost seems to be a lost cause to me. If FEMA after Katrina didn’t convince them, I fear we have no chance until something in them changes and, like an addict, they decide to kick the socialist habit on their own. Then, we can embrace them with open arms. But, maybe I’m just being a wee bit pessimistic. Certainly, you’re fightin’ and good fight. I just don’t know how much ground you’ll gain in hostile territory. And to think, the Democrats used to be the free traders!
“you’re fightin’ and good fight”
I meant “you’re fightin’ the good fight”, of course:)
“If FEMA after Katrina didn’t convince them”
That was “bad” government, they want “good” government. Whatever the government fails at, it’s always better that they’re doing it because there’s “accountability”, while greedy capitalists or charities apparently aren’t held to account.
And I feel your pain, Amber. English and Humanities departments in the US are intellectual wastelands of ideological conformity and academic gobbledygook. I hope that you survive…..and then stay as far away from a PhD program as you can.
If they’re curious, they’ll come to you. Don’t go to them and try to force them to think in a rational way. That’s a waste of time. Only the ones that are intellectually curious are worth saving anyway, and they will come to us of their own free will. The rest are as it was said in The Matrix “hopelessly dependent on the system, and they’ll fight to protect it.”
yeah, you’re right. I shouldn’t bother.
It’s fun and important to try to get through to people, just don’t let it tax you. Ha! I’m one to talk about that.
I guess that the other concern is that today’s lefty may very well be tomorrow’s leader. With Obama in the white house there will likely be a Keynesian revival. And from what I gather from the Alternet crowd, the revival will be led by leftwing fanatics who are becoming nearly as scary to me as fundamentalists and neocons. I mean, some of these people have completely lost their minds over things like nationalized health care, global warming, and apparent economic “inequality.” I’ve argued here before that the rank and file Republican is unreachable. Now I’m thinking the same thing about the American Left.
I know, one of those Alternet lefties wrote that they were hoping for another New Deal. I haven’t studied a lot about economics, but one of them wrote something about how during the New Deal some type of investments went up (I can’t remember exactly). Do you know what the whole “modern capitalism” is generally stagnant argument comes from? What are they basing that off of?
Troy,
I don’t know where they get that “chronic stagnation” thing. I think that was from Marx but I don’t know enough to say for sure. Maybe it’s part of Keynes as well. It matters not, though. I think they’d make stuff up over there anyway, just to throw dirt in your face. And yeah, these calls for another New Deal are scaring the shit out of me.
That makes sense. This is a bit off topic, but of my favorites is when lefties say: “I’m tired of the comparison between socialism and fascism. Fascism was a right-wing movement and while they did use some of the same methods as socialists, their intent was to just calm the masses. While socialism had true egalitarian motives, to uplift the poor and needy.” Let he who is without sin set prices I suppose.
Troy,
Thinking about it some more, Marxists think that stagnation arises in a capitalist economy as a result of monopoly. Producers that monopolize a market can set prices as high as they want, so their theory goes, which further hinders economic growth. What they don’t get is that it takes a Higher Power like the state helping to secure a monopoly. Without the state, competition from cheaper producers should undermine the monopoly. And in reality, monopolies are so rare as to hardly be concerned with.
Ozzy,
Every comment I post goes up twice and then it takes me to a blank page that loads forever. Yes I got firefox 3.
Ozzy,
Every comment I post goes up twice and then it takes me to a blank page that loads forever. Yes I got firefox 3.
See?
See?