libertarianism

I've been grappling with a simple dilema -- How do you balance a love for the freedom of speech with a skeptical outlook toward cults and religions that infringe upon people's rights? I'm specifically thinking about scientology in that their response to criticism is intimidation and...

Something Awful's view of what a Ron Paul presidency would be like. Enjoy.

I recently learned about and heard Ron Paul speak. I find that I only disagree with two of his views so far. This is much better than any of the others on both sides of the isle. How do you ladies and gentleman feel about him? G

Now, don't get me wrong, I am not a hardlined libertarian who believes the government should not provide money to anything besides military and roads, but I do believe they should stay out of running a ton of institutions that are better and more efficent when they run themselves. And above all...

“Hands off” economies include forms of capitalism such as Laissez-faire capitalism as well as libertarianism, where the government plays no role in the regulation of the actions of market entities including corporations as well as no way to prevent or remedy market failures. There are many flaws...

Alot of my mates which I'd say are also 'skeptics' would be classed as libertarians in America and I'd dare say alot of skeptics that I find on here seem to lean to the same sort of libertarian right as them. Personally I am a fairly staunch leftist, I see the United States as an outlaw state...

This post arises out of something the Artistic Macrophage wrote earlier today about a Libertarian forum attacking his "Debunking Uncle Fetzer's 15 Points". TAM did a great job on his post, by the way. But for the purposes of this topic, I spent a little time surfing the Liberty Forums 9-11...

Where i live, neither objectivism nor libertarianism is common. I know that there has been some friction between them -- Rand called libertarians "hippies" and "anarchists". But i'm curious to find out more. What is the difference between the philosophies? In what way does objectivism differ...

Anybody else a bit tired of the old liberal/conservative dichotomy? I am equally dissatisfied with the Republicans and the Democrats. The Republicans are slaves to the wacko religious right. The Democrats are so enslaved to unions that they insist on opposing Free Trade, which, in contrast to...

I have a question for the die hard Libertarians on this board (i.e Shanek). Suppose Badnarik had somehow gotten elected president, what do you suppose he would have done differently in the wake of this disaster? For that matter, how would a libertarian society in general have dealt with the...

Source: http://www.lp.org/issues/immigration.shtml It's difficult to see the above as anything but an argument in favor of the status quo. We are given facts about the profile of typical immigrants under the existing immigration system in the USA. Does that tell us anything about the profile...

Suppose that in the future there will be countries with huge numbers of very wealthy individuals and that some or all of these countries will be Libertarian. In one of these countries, flying one's own personal aircraft may become a popular hobby. Will a Libertarian government be able to...

Suppose that a very poor country revised all of its laws to make them consistent with Libertarianism. Of course, the country would not immediately become wealthy. The country might have many malnourished children whose parents are simply too poor to provide the children with proper nutrition...

We hope to prove this question by the careful application of the technique of the selective quote. Um. Okay. We’ll stop there. Don’t want the atheists on this forum to froth. Isn’t good for them, you know. June 10, 2005 Transcript

I like World O' Crap because it's funny, it snarks on Coulter, and it chronicles America's Worst Mother©. I don't care if it's a liberal leftist bunny-hugging terrorist-coddling whatever. I likes it. Today's subject of snark is John Stossel and his column on Town Hall. Here's Stossel's...

It's time this country dug down and found some good old fashioned libertarianism within itself. As such, we should: 1. Legalize adult drug use, including steroids and ephedra. 2. Legalize adult prostitution. 3. Legalize euthanasia, whether by a doctor or a friend/relative. 4. Legalize gay...

Spam King goes Bankrupt The article makes frequent references to "libertarian" principles that anti-spam laws don't work, so shouldn't exist. Is this a mainstream Libertarian (capital L) opinion?

http://www.lewrockwell.com/rockwell/which-way.html One line I have a little trouble with is where he asks how did conservative intellectuals go from hating big government in the 1990's to loving it now. Actually, he goes on to suggest, and libertarians have to be careful about this, that...

http://www.amconmag.com/2005_03_14/article2.html Libertarianism is a political philosophy, not a complete system of ethics or metaphysics. Political philosophies address specifically the state and, more generally, justice in human society. The distinguishing characteristic of libertarianism is...

Just wondering who all reads The Freeman: Ideas on Liberty magazine published monthly by The Foundation for Economic Education? I've been reading it for years, what an excellent eye-opening and thought-provoking magazine. Highly recommend for those who wish to learn more about Classical...

Since everyone seems to be having such a fun time taking about Bill and Joe and their problems with water rights, I thought I would write a different hypothetical situation for Libertarians to argue about. A major national airline with dozens of routes offers a particular route out of Dayton...

There seems to be quite a number of Libertarians on this board, which is, in itself, quite interesting. But then, there are also quite a number of Danes here... ;) I think it's time for our resident Libertarians to explain what Libertarianism is. Our most vocal Libertarian, shanek, seems to...

Often, people who want to sell some product, service, or system try to draw attention to the benefits of that product, service, or system. If the first rule in making changes is "do no harm", then we need to consider possible negatives or disadvantages of the product, service, or system. The...

One of the great things about private enterprise is meant to be that companies are great at solving problems be these problems how to increase efficiency in X to how to provide for need Y. Sometimes this problem solving require actual new physical inventions and in other cases less tangible...

Reading the posts of the libertarians (and Libertarians, of course ;)) on this boards I have come to the conclusion that libertarian theories (I think the terms "dogma" and "ideology" are too negative) are based on a couple of implicit assumptions. - every participant in an economy will always...

CF Larson posted some of the loonie things Badnarik has suggested he would do if he was elected president. Within those quotes was this little gem Emphisis mine. Ignoring the majority of the spin and rhetoric, I was curious about just the bolded part. Is he really suggesting that we...

So, yet again, in more than one thread, we have people going on and on about how the President has no power to "decide what is constitutional or not," that he "clearly oversteps his authority" by doing so, that it amounts to "dictatorial power," and, therefore, that Badnarik is a loonie. I'm...

http://www.lowcountrynow.com/stories/100704/LOCliberterian.shtml I've seen Libertarians kicked off the ballot for far more pedantic reasons than this. I guess the Demopublicans feel the law just doesn't apply to them...

Look At This Survey. From the looks of it the guys of Green Party also seem like they have just a bit too much free time on their hands as well.

Animal Rights: apperently many Libertarians believe in Natural Rights, that people have rights because they are a part of nature and because only with the use of force can you do something that abridges these rights. The same is true of animals. The only way to kill and eat an animal is by the...