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That's what businesses do. They are created to make money. They only way to keep them in check is with regulations. The unfortunate thing is so many people hold

That's what businesses do. They are created to make money. They only way to keep them in check is with regulations. The unfortunate thing is so many people hold libertarian views while others are anti-big government.

m0llusk 4y ago
They may call themselves Libertarians but there is this competing idea that the path to liberty necessarily involves strong checks on both government and commercial organizations. But to work with these ideas it would be necessary to look beyond Peter Thiel's entertaining antics and that is difficult because there is such delight in giving him a pedestal and spotlight. What is liberty? Talk to Peter Thiel. He must really know all about that.
- hdhcuvyvt 4y ago
  That's not a competing idea. It is the idea. The difficulty is knowing which checks are necessary and which are "big government". Which is why we vote. Being anti big government is not the same thing as being anti all government. Characterising it that way is either lazy or ignorant, take your pick.
- VieEnCode 4y ago
  Libertarians of that stripe are essentially pro plutocracy, which would end up being massively anti liberty in practice. But just as the winners write the history books, the richest libertarians like Thiel and Koch seem able to define what the ideology looks like in the popular imagination, because they can afford to shape the debate via think tanks, media ownership, campus outreach, lobbying, etc.
ravenstine 4y ago
It's even what individuals do when they believe they can justify it. Many accident lawyers would be out of business if people refused to fake a "soft-tissue" injury out of principle. If the incentive is there, people will usually take it, if they don't have to feel badly about it.
- themitigating 4y ago
  And that's why there are also restrictions on what people can do. Businesses have more power over others
acdha 4y ago
It’s important to remember that those libertarian views didn’t just happen by accident: a LOT of money had been spent developing media, organizations, even religious denominations starting with backlash to the New Deal. The historian Kevin Kruse wrote a book which will have a lot of familiar names: http://kevinmkruse.com/book/one-nation-under-god/ http://kevinmkruse.com/book/one-nation-under-god/
JohnFen 4y ago
If corporations are people, then they're sociopaths that society needs to be protected from.

m0llusk 4y ago

They may call themselves Libertarians but there is this competing idea that the path to liberty necessarily involves strong checks on both government and commercial organizations. But to work with these ideas it would be necessary to look beyond Peter Thiel's entertaining antics and that is difficult because there is such delight in giving him a pedestal and spotlight. What is liberty? Talk to Peter Thiel. He must really know all about that.

hdhcuvyvt 4y ago
That's not a competing idea. It is the idea. The difficulty is knowing which checks are necessary and which are "big government". Which is why we vote. Being anti big government is not the same thing as being anti all government. Characterising it that way is either lazy or ignorant, take your pick.
VieEnCode 4y ago
Libertarians of that stripe are essentially pro plutocracy, which would end up being massively anti liberty in practice. But just as the winners write the history books, the richest libertarians like Thiel and Koch seem able to define what the ideology looks like in the popular imagination, because they can afford to shape the debate via think tanks, media ownership, campus outreach, lobbying, etc.

ravenstine 4y ago

It's even what individuals do when they believe they can justify it. Many accident lawyers would be out of business if people refused to fake a "soft-tissue" injury out of principle. If the incentive is there, people will usually take it, if they don't have to feel badly about it.

themitigating 4y ago
And that's why there are also restrictions on what people can do. Businesses have more power over others

acdha 4y ago

It’s important to remember that those libertarian views didn’t just happen by accident: a LOT of money had been spent developing media, organizations, even religious denominations starting with backlash to the New Deal. The historian Kevin Kruse wrote a book which will have a lot of familiar names: http://kevinmkruse.com/book/one-nation-under-god/ http://kevinmkruse.com/book/one-nation-under-god/

JohnFen 4y ago

If corporations are people, then they're sociopaths that society needs to be protected from.