Libertarian curiosities

Having been attacked, for being an outsider who dares speak about US politics, by a guy calling himself a Libertarian, I thought it might be instructive to have a look at what they stand for.

The ability of a human to hold totally conflicting belief is not unusual; to elevate them to a philosophical position is a worry.
Not that the basic, stated beliefs of the Libertarians suggest that. More it is the intolerance of people who would:

• Demand freedom of belief and action for themselves but deny it for others.


• Deny the collective responsibility yet insist in allegiance to the nation.


• Fight for the right to free speech, unless it opposes their view.


• Abhor crime yet demand the right to carry guns.


• Support the repeal of taxation and then end of poverty by advocating a $1 for $1 tax credit for contributions to private charity.


• Opposes censorship of online communications, again apparently, where it doesn’t offend them personally.

There is more, but let’s plough on here.

Another strange dichotomy is that these avowed individualists also have a political party, albeit one under constant stress.
It is one of the largest consistent third parties in the United States, with over 200,000 registered voters and over 600 people in office, including mayors, county executives, county council members, school boards and other local offices.
The great internal battle for these advocates of private property, are members of the leadership who it seems treat the party like private property.
I note the party is just a touch sarcastic about ‘lone wolf’ libertarians, who often claim there are no fellow libertarians in the area to join with. So daring to be an individualistic libertarian doesn’t go down well in the party’s view.

I would have thought that those who advocate maximizing individual rights and minimizing the role of the state might also be a little wary of a party organization – a mini-state in itself.

I was also amused by my anonymous critic’s assertion that: “Libertarians tend to favor policies of isolationism and we're generally against America's "big stick" policies that have raged on far too long.”
I don’t have any great problem with that, except that it would be far more effective to take the issue up with the US government than it is to attack me.  Said attack came in the same post: “Be advised that the anonymous poster is a staunch Libertarian and feels that anyone outside of his own country doesn't have the room to criticize simply because you do not contribute to the good of my nation whatsoever.”
Ahhh, anonymous, you would be surprised.
So for anonymous and those Libertarians wanting to attack me for holding forth on the country whose rules they seem to despise, I offer you the following:
“We Libertarians base our political philosophy and our solutions to today's problems on a single principle: You have the right to live your life and use your property as you see fit, just so long as you respect the full right of others to do the same.”
And I shall continue to do just that.