4 ms·

So, just to bring the abstracts down to earth for a bit here, you're defending things like the Citizen's United decision here? Let's get rid of the laws agains

by jbooth 13y ago

So, just to bring the abstracts down to earth for a bit here, you're defending things like the Citizen's United decision here? Let's get rid of the laws against outright bribery of congressmen while we're at it. That's just giving the government more power, with more laws, right?

zanny 13y ago
Trying to make illegal the paying off of politicians only skates the root problem that you have a society where enough wealth is concentrated to enable the buying of legislation from supposedly democratically elected representatives. Even if you managed it, you still have an absurd over concentration of power and wealth you aren't doing anything about, that just continues to corrupt at all levels of society.
jerf 13y ago
If the purpose of your message is to convince me to stop being libertarian, trying to explain how I'm actually in favor of bigger, more powerful government as your last paragraph does is a very ineffective way to do it. I'm in favor of breaking down big power structures, where ever they are. As for the liberal's bete noir the CU decision, I'm pretty ambivalent. It would be far better to break up the big power pool the Federal government represents and thereby make capturing it less useful, then to try to make one big pool of power then insist that people try not to acquire it. The whole thing is the wrong question.
- jbooth 13y ago
  I'm explaining that calling out "a law against bribing the government" as "more government power to oppress the private sector!" illuminates the silliness of putting everything on a single axis. I'm not trying to convince you to "stop being libertarian", I'm trying to convince you to stop being anything-ian. Get in the gray zone, man. It's where actual understanding or admitting that you don't understand happens. Libertarians these days remind me of nothing so much as college marxists. It's all about theory and ideology, nothing about the real world.

by jbooth 13y ago

zanny 13y ago

Trying to make illegal the paying off of politicians only skates the root problem that you have a society where enough wealth is concentrated to enable the buying of legislation from supposedly democratically elected representatives. Even if you managed it, you still have an absurd over concentration of power and wealth you aren't doing anything about, that just continues to corrupt at all levels of society.

jerf 13y ago

If the purpose of your message is to convince me to stop being libertarian, trying to explain how I'm actually in favor of bigger, more powerful government as your last paragraph does is a very ineffective way to do it. I'm in favor of breaking down big power structures, where ever they are. As for the liberal's bete noir the CU decision, I'm pretty ambivalent. It would be far better to break up the big power pool the Federal government represents and thereby make capturing it less useful, then to try to make one big pool of power then insist that people try not to acquire it. The whole thing is the wrong question.

jbooth 13y ago
I'm explaining that calling out "a law against bribing the government" as "more government power to oppress the private sector!" illuminates the silliness of putting everything on a single axis. I'm not trying to convince you to "stop being libertarian", I'm trying to convince you to stop being anything-ian. Get in the gray zone, man. It's where actual understanding or admitting that you don't understand happens. Libertarians these days remind me of nothing so much as college marxists. It's all about theory and ideology, nothing about the real world.