Hey Void

[reverendjeremiah]

..when every AMERICAN libertarian I meet face to face no longer votes the Republican ticket. In my experience, every libertarian I have met have openly voted for Republicans and even openly endorsed the tea party.

I am sure there are some LIBS out there who vote their own ticket, but I have yet to meet one face to face. Talk on the net is cheap when it comes to politics.

And what exactly is it you think the Dems have done that is socially so superior? "Abolishing" DADT? That hasn't actually happened yet has it? It will happen "When the pentagon thinks the soldiers are psychologically ready". Where is Obama giving federal mandate to same-sex marriage? And he has refused to give the states legislative power over medical marijuana, your FDA going as far as to say it has NO medicinal (which is in stark contradiction to peer-reviewed science, shows the FDA are some impartial angels who care, right?) benefits under his watch.

For a bit of contrast, It was libertarian leaning Republicans who recently legalised Gay Marriage in NY and if I recall correctly the majority of states with medical marijuana are Republican run.

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Well said Void. I have no hate for corporations in general, merely distrust. On the other hand, I openly oppose the corporations you mention in this post. Im tired of people claiming progressives are "anti-business / anti-capitalists". I am pro business / capitalism. I am ANTI- greed and "cut throat capitalism".

Distrust is healthy towards any and all interests.

You can't punish someone just for being greedy, suppose someone makes a fuckton of money making goods to sell for a price people are willing to pay and making a good profit on it, their greed motivates them to expand their own business but they have never done anything unethical or illegal to obtain it - In my view they have done absolutely nothing wrong... If they have done nothing wrong then seizing their assets simply because other people aren't doing to well financially is immoral.

All very good questions.

I also want to point out that I enjoy our political debates

You mistake me for someone who plays partisan party politics. I am an INDEPENDENT PROGRESSIVE. The only time I will be partisan is if a Bull Moose Progressive party were established in my area. That ISNT going to happen anytime soon. This means I vote for the most Progressive position I can, be it Dem, Rep, or Indie. I consider MANY things about the Republican in California ("Get to the Chopper!" Arnold) to be very Progressive and very appealing for my vote. I live in North Carolina. I would vote Arnold (Rep) if he were running here. The American Progressive Party stemmed off of the Republican Party in 1912. The Republican Party itself was created by anti-slave social liberals. In a sense I can say that I am a "Teddy Roosevelt Republican".

I am very upset at Obama right now, as he convinced me he was a Progressive, then turned around and voted center right on many things. He didnt do SHIT to BP for the oil spill. He laughed at the idea of changing the legal views on marijuana. He is cringing back on his stance for gay rights. etc..etc...

Yes I can punish someone for being greedy. I can punish anyone for anything. Government is a free-for-all and anyone who thinks otherwise is in the dark. At any moment I could be tossed into Guantanamo bay for trumped up charges and there will be nothing I could do about it. Suppose that a group of liberals and conservatives get together and vote to fuck that company that "makes a fuckton of money making goods" out of some of its profits? Greed is the fucking problem, and it reaches STRONG across the entire politcal/philosophical realm. Yes, even Progressives can fall weak to greed. Now, as far as you saying "seizing their assets", surely you realize that it goes much deeper than that? This isnt a handful of people we are dealing with. This is the entire WORLD now. Everyone making promises and deals and conspiracies with and against everyone else. There is a chaos factor involved. That is why I am a mixed economist. I must be willing to bend and not break.

I will bet my paycheck that any political or economic theory that claims it has the answers is more than likely wrong since humans and thoughts and opinions and politics are in a state of constant flux...and thus my guilty secret crush for Anarchy comes to the surface from time to time. Its not that I think government is bad. I just think it is a sometimes random free-for-all.

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And what exactly is "cut throat capitalism"? The way I see it the people cutting the throats of the competition are the ones who have their cock in the government's asshole, not the ones who want free markets where the only way to "cut throats" is to give the consumers goods and services at a price so low that nobody else can compete - If that is what's happening then fucking Hooray! "Cut" as many throats as you like, if the consumers are getting goods and services so cheap that nobody else can realistically meet the low prices then I couldn't care less if you can't operate a small aluminium plant because Alco is kicking your ass in prices - What is good for consumers is low prices, taxing a giant like Alco to favour small businesses or fining them for being 'uncompetitive' because their prices are too low only passes the costs off to consumers, as does subsidising the small businesses where the costs may appear lower from the small supplier, but that is only because the value of the subsidies aren't included on the price tag.

Cut throat capitalism is capitalism for the sake of capitalism, and nothing more. Cut throat capitalists steal children and sell them for sex slaves, or to be mine workers, or to die being eaten by exotic animals for the sake of the entertainment of the cut throat capitalist crowds.That should be punished in my opinion.