I love the notion some Republicans supporters have that the Republicans are one unified group . I love even more how many Republicans have historic amnesia and forget that they have historically been all over the political map not just the very right  ultra free market politics of now  .Same goes for Democrats in fact i would say Democrats have been more erratic than Republicans . I imagine it's an attempt by Republicans to separate themselves from politics that the modern party would not like to associated with .

That's what happens when you chase lunatics for votes.

(February 1, 2018 at 9:33 am)Grandizer Wrote: Tiberius himself adheres to a sexy form of libertarianism.

Well that's one way of describing it.

I try to describe it as "pragmatic libertarianism". You ever hear the phrase that you can be so open-minded that your brain falls out? Well that's my view of libertarianism. You reach a point where being too libertarian causes society to fail. That's the point where you need to draw the line.

There are just some things the free market can't handle, and that's fine; that's where the government steps in.

(February 1, 2018 at 7:03 am)shadow Wrote:

Rand Paul is a gold bugging idiot, he's not worthy of your piss, never mind respect.

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(February 1, 2018 at 9:29 am)vulcanlogician Wrote: I think our congress would be better divided Libertarians vs Socialists. If these latter two parties could meet each other half way, we'd have a better functioning congress.

Yeah, 100% Socialists, 0% Libertarian. The minute a Libertarian advocates for a good idea, they cease being Libertarian.

(February 1, 2018 at 4:39 pm)Wololo Wrote:

(February 1, 2018 at 9:29 am)vulcanlogician Wrote: I think our congress would be better divided Libertarians vs Socialists. If these latter two parties could meet each other half way, we'd have a better functioning congress.

Yeah, 100% Socialists, 0% Libertarian.  The minute a Libertarian advocates for a good idea, they cease being Libertarian.

Look, I was trying to create a setup that most of the electorate would be happy with (ie something that could actually happen). 100% socialists ain't gonna ever happen in the US. Roughly half of the country is conservative.

Roughly half the country are god botherers....that it extends to "conservatism" is more a comment on brand loyalty than their actual positions on issues.  

Ask a person if they think they should have a quality education or healthcare free at point of access and see if you can get 50% of americans to object to that idea. Ask them if they;d like to see for profit emergency system where the responder answers the call with "911 whats your credit card number?". I think that, if you managed to frame an issue past blatant asshattery and cross interest propaganda..you'd find a hell of alot of "socialists" in the US of A.

Conservatives, in the US, sell their brand on "social issues" (like how much god hates sluts and slut pills and babykillers)...that's their bread and butter. If someone managed to remind them that their god was a filthy commy, they'd fall in line real quick..even if doing so credibly damaged their own interests. We know this, because they already do.

(February 1, 2018 at 4:36 pm)Tiberius Wrote:

(February 1, 2018 at 9:33 am)Grandizer Wrote: Tiberius himself adheres to a sexy form of libertarianism.

Well that's one way of describing it.

I try to describe it as "pragmatic libertarianism". You ever hear the phrase that you can be so open-minded that your brain falls out? Well that's my view of libertarianism. You reach a point where being too libertarian causes society to fail. That's the point where you need to draw the line.

There are just some things the free market can't handle, and that's fine; that's where the government steps in.

The Koch Brothers would put a contract out on you for saying that.  And I'm sure the WLB still has friends in the Philadelphia mafia who could take care of it for him.

In the view of american "libertarianism" that's exactly where government should step out..because there's a hell of alot of money to be made in the vacuum.

I'd love to see one of these free markets, though..it seems about as illusory as a unicorn. OTOH, I guess the black market is , at least effectively, free. In reality the bar for what the free market can;t handle is much..much lower than government services. It;s failing @ food..at present. The free market is incapable of delivering....food. Good luck with the rest when something that basic is beyond it's ability.

Rand Paul reminds me that it was one time when I actually found myself rooting for the mugger.

You actually had respect for rand Paul to lose.

I guess you just lost my respect.