Why I'm Not a Libertarian, Part II

Just a few thoughts on Libertarianism's strengths and weaknesses as a social philosophy.

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[YayMeth]

I agree about business (big business, anyway) and government being separated. However I don't think the line between the two is blurry unless they are allowed to intermingle in the first place. Congress in particular was set up as a regulatory body. Congress, specifically, is charged with the regulation of interstate commerce. How can congress and the judiciary system, have particular commercial interests and still be an effective non biased regulatory measure?

[stealthbadger]

@YayMeth The problem is that you can't get "what should be" from "what is."

[stealthbadger]

@stealthbadger Er. The other way around, rather. Sorry, I'm just starting my first cup of coffee.

[stealthbadger]

@cclodfe No. I am not. I am using the word corporation loosely to attempt to describe an economic entity rather than a state entity. Take away the corporate charter, and the guns are just as real.

[cclodfe]

@stealthbadger

A corporation is a state created entity. You are still confusing market anarchy (libertarianism) with statism/corporatism/state capitalism. The state granted these corporations privileges that allowed them to form cartels in their industry. These cartels prevented others from entering the market. This limited employers in the market limited the social mobility of workers and lead to labor abuse. Read the Myth of the Robber Barons.

[stealthbadger]

@cclodfe Sorry, I replied to the wrong one. Please see further down the thread - but I begin to lose patience at the repeated assertion of the premise that it's the state/statists/government to blame, when quite literally human beings can't interact without creating some sort of starting position or structure, even if it's a mutual "fuck you, you're stupid."

[stealthbadger]

@stealthbadger and mostly I just like being left the hell alone, but something must fill the gaps left because our senses and linguistic abilities provide us so little information about the world and each other that some assumptions are made in order to fill in those gaps (in much the way that our brain "fills in" the blind spots where our optic nerve penetrates our retinas).

[stealthbadger]

@stealthbadger Asia who crossed the Bering Strait either brought their "state" with them, created new ones when they arrived *even down in what is now Chile*, or some combination of both. The state - some form of hierarchy or structure used to make political decisions - is a part of human beings acting together to do anything more complicated than banging rocks together, and even then some sort of structure can help avoid injuries.

I'm not a fan of oppression, (cont)

[stealthbadger]

@cclodfe First, you're ignorant of history - corporations had a long history until around WW I of having their own paramilitary forces. Let's not even get into places like feudal Japan or Medieval Europe, where the use of force was not only the mark of power, it was outlined in very specific ways who could and could not use it, and in what ways.

Second, all societies are statist. All of them have some kind of "state," just as they all have some kind of economy. Even the migrants from (cont)