What the hell is libertarianism?

[CitizenCain]

Are you seriously a criminal?

Everyone in this country is. You can't walk down to the corner store these days without violating at least one local, state or federal law.

A fair number of my posts on here could be classified as "seditious conspiracy" to a sufficiently annoyed federal prosecutor. <shrug> Seeing as how we're all heinous felons anyway, I say we should embrace it and do something to be worthy of the title!

But, no I don't actually diddle kiddies, if that's what you're asking. It does nothing for me. Much better to harm the government - there's more money in it, and it's a lot more fun too.

But...what about the old people? They're like gurus. You need to help the elderly!

Why? Really - why?

Of course not. What are we discussing again?

Young'uns as parasitic life forms, IIRC.

Any functional anarchist must also be armed and paranoid, I'd think. I think anarchism is absolutly impossible for a sane human being. Practically as soon as you get two guys in a room, someone's dominant and the rules begin. That's just how we are. (Human Condition )

You're taking it too far. It's not inevitable that someone will always achieve dominance - but it's practically inevitable that *at least* one of the people will try. Which is what makes anarchism impossible to actually implement.

But there's no historical precedent/evidence for that at all.

Sure there is. Even if you ignore the (modern) historical collapse of the ultimate expression of socialism, you've got dozens of empires that have fallen internally when the political class started redistributing wealth "too much." The threshold for what's "too much" seems to grow ever larger (I blame technological development, personally), but it's ultimately the same old story from Egypt to Greece to Rome to imperialist Europe... to the modern West. Too much taxation on the "productive" portions of society, and you either outright collapse, or weaken your society to the point that a rival become more powerful... and conquers you.

In fact, its the exact opposite. Liberal society has flourished beyond all imagination in the last 100 years.

Given modern lifespans, that's how many generations?

Yeah, we're doing well now, but if history is any indication, it won't last long, let alone forever.

That's what I don't get about conservatives (and you libertarians, as if there's a difference )

When was the last time you heard a "conservative" complain about the war on drugs, or advocate the idea that h0m0s are people too? Yeah, I get it, you're neither conservative or libertarian, but the two groups are still vastly different from each other.

- they want to tear down the mechanism that's made this nation, and Western society generally, a fantastic success.

Sounds suspiciously like the criticism of Chinese dissidents. Selfish bastards, wanting personal rights at the expense of the glorious Chinese Empire.

You've insulted him ten times as much as I have. Typical lying snake.

I have? Source, please. Because he doesn't seem to think so. And given that you seem to have a problem with me constantly bringing up your prior record vis-a-vis honesty, it would be swell if you could make an effort to be at least marginally truthful. Or, at the very least, put forth a very minimal effort to substantiate some of your wilder claims.

But Cain calling me to task about flaming somebody? 'Tis laughable. He's the #1 initiator of flames in our community, and always has been, and he distributes those flames most widely.

OK, let's accept that at face value, for the sake of argument. I still haven't flamed YoungMage (our new member), while most everyone else - yourself included - has. The fact that I'm a general asshole doesn't mean that I'm always an asshole to every specific member... in this case, YoungMage.