Atlas Ducked: Rand Paul & The Crouching Weasel Technique

http://twitter.com/jsmooth995

Some quick thoughts on Rand Paul's interview with Rachel Maddow. (props to Maddow for her superior Kung Fu in that exchange.)

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News & Politics

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• rand paul
• libertarianism
• liu chia hui
• lo lieh
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• pai mei

[vietnamflashbacks]

When was the last time the free-market brought about any sort of civil rights?

Even the Montgomery bus system preferred to lose money on barring and mistreating blacks than to gain greater profits through inclusion.

It took a Supreme Court ruling to get them to include the passengers they discriminated against, not the free-market.

[Lokifan13]

Just fyi - it's not 'our government', I'm British :) The American Constitution and Bill of Rights was clearly not enough to protect minorities, though, that's sort of my point; inalienable rights and civil rights aren't the same thing. The worst examples of oppression were done by government power but I believe in positive rights as well as negative ones: I want my government not only to protect me from its own power but to protect me from those with more social power than me, who would hurt me.

[Marlowann]

@booley Well every economic system will allow the wrong people to benefit from it in great ways. That's the guarantee of any economic system, since no matter what kind it might be, it'll always be a human system. Whether capitalism's justices are outnumbered by its injustices I think calls for a different discussion and history lesson; but as far as all of these economic systems go, I've found capitalism under a constitutionally consistent govt. to be the least imperfect. Have a nice day broham

[booley]

@Marlowann In short, any social justice from capitalism is incidental and typically outnumbered by the social injustices it contributes too.

[booley]

@Marlowann it's not that capitalism ha san end ot cause social injustice. But frankly social justice is NOT what it's about. Companies succeed or fail based on how well they do at making money in the short term. IF they can do that by causing pollution & oppressing workers, that's just as good to capitalism as one that's green and supports workers... as long as money is being made. And being a robber baron douche bag bigot can get you a lot of money.

[booley]

@Marlowann and so disregarding how you misconstrued the taxi situation the problem with your claim becomes obvious...

"Capitalism has the potential to solve social liberty problems by putting the economic power in the direct hands of the people"

In theory maybe but in practice it does the exact opposite if given a chance. and capitalism is just fine with concentration of wealth.

Which means capitalism can cause more problems then it creates

[booley]

@Marlowann that may be how it was designed in theory.

But in practice businesses not only could be racist, many felt they had to be because otherwise they risked losing white customers. The boy cott hurt the busline because loss of black and other anti-segregation business was substantial. But it's untrue that they stopped making money. They just didnt' make as much as before. and other businesses could esaily weather a boycott.

[Marlowann]

@booley Given this much, and that the city govt. impoed fines on boycotting taxis that charged less than the bus system's fee, (governmental anti-capitalist measure to support racism) Capitalism has the potential to solve social liberty problems by putting the economic power in the direct hands of the people, letting them decide who deserves money.

So unlike a toaster, which has no potential to wash clothes, capitalism does indeed have the potential to do social justice, if not the guarantee.

[Marlowann]

@booley Capitalism is designed to let people pay for what they want to pay for, letting any business who caters to the whims of the people thrive, while businesses who don't give the people what they want obviously won't make much money. In the case of the Montgomery bus system, the anti-racist boycott was a sign that most people didn't want the bus system to be racist. So that bus system stopped making money.

[booley]

@Marlowann capitalism did not cause racist policies like segregation.

But the point here is that capitalism was never going to do anything to stop those racist policies either.

Expecting the free market to do anything for social justice is like expecting your toaster to wash your clothes. It's simply now what it was designed to do.

[booley]

@jcf005 " I'd think the hungry would be fed at a higher rate in a Libertarian community"

And I think puppies and gold bricks will shoot from the asses in a libertarian community.

Too bad the few times a "libertarian society" has ever been attempted so neither your nor my prediction can be proven. which is the problem I cited. You guys make all of these predictions about what Libertarianism would do. But it never seems to work out that way.