Kissing cousins, angry extremists,
anarchists, potheads, rabble-rousers, malcontents, Obama-supporters…these are
all things the GOP associate with Libertarians…but is it right, accurate or
fair? Yes and no…but possibly not for
the reasons you may think. Many people
think Libertarians are a fringe offshoot from the Republicans…possibly due to
the fact that some of the GOP platform has references to some of the ethos of
the LP. This is a major factor as to why
Republicans hold the notion that Libertarian votes are supposed to be GOP
votes, and there is true anger and fear when it doesn’t go as planned, like
now. But, to really understand the
situation, a few layers need to be peeled back.
Let’s do that!
Libertarian ethos: Force shall not be used
toward any individual who is not infringing on the rights of others. GOP usage of this idea is that business and
corporations should not be hindered by extreme environmental regulations…but
the gov’t still has to regulate cars, refrigerators, irons, pets, food, air
travel, seatbelts, bottled water etc…as well as subsidize farmers, give foreign
aid to allies and enemies, police the world, be able to kill or detain anyone,
anywhere for anything, wiretapping, prohibit drugs, limit abortions, protect
certain religions, prosecute crimes differently due to racial/sexual
motivations etc. You see…a simple
Libertarian principle of not using force has been “compromised” by Republicans
who think that the only thing worse than dealing with the devil (the extreme
left), is to hold to your principles…so compromise is the path of the GOP. If you support the Dems, you clearly support
Obama and the leftist agenda…but if you support the GOP, you are supporting the
leftist agenda implemented in smaller incremental installments in order to
appease those on the left who demagogue and incite feelings to combat the
growing problems caused by even incremental instillations of unprincipled,
illogical, unsustainable, feel-good policies that have numerous unintended
consequences that eventually will have to be dealt with (presumably with more
unprincipled, illogical, unsustainable, feel-good policies with more unintended
consequences that eventually…). I think
you get it now. J
So the tired refrain of “a vote for Gary
is a vote for Obama” is actually the dumbest thing a Republican can say to a
Libertarian, because the only reason someone has actually used their noodle and
joined the LP is because they are tired of BOTH parties in power moving this
country further away from the ideals of the founding fathers…and I say that
with absolutely zero nostalgic feeling…just the notion that those guys set up a
system to avoid our current problems by making the individual more important
than the “good of the whole” by offering protections to the individual from the
whole…which have been watered down and done away with by the collusion of both
parties in power for the past 100 years.
All this points to the “vote for Obama is a vote for Romney” sentiment
that is common among Libertarians…however there is one point that sticks in the
side of argumentative Republicans stumping for Romney. That is this: Name me one big gov’t policy
the GOP has ever done away with, without substituting with another big/bigger
gov’t policy? Truth is, the GOP is not
going to repeal Obamacare, without putting in another bureaucracy in its
place. In fact, Romney has already said
so much…so why should we support soft tyranny when there is another
option?
So, after establishing that Romney is
just a slower form of oppression and clearly just the “lesser of two evils”,
there remains another problem with Libertarians, in the eyes of the “Right”. Personal responsibility. Republicans love to talk about this topic,
but are not as quick to follow their own advice, or hold others accountable. Hurricane Sandy. Lots of devastation, but nothing that a
couple hard weeks can’t fix. Our country
has handled far worse. In fact, this
region is known to have pretty bad storms this time of year. How many people are sitting in their homes
without water, power, food, medical attention, etc? Whose responsibility is it to make sure they
have water? The City? The State? The Federal Gov’t? The Red Cross? There are people actually telling the public
not to support the Red Cross because their charity to Sandy victims is not fast
or wide spread enough to make up for what the gov’t is UNABLE to provide Is
anyone saying that we should stop paying taxes because the gov’t isn’t doing
what THEY SAID they would to provide for you? .(thus, the enumerated powers
limitation for the gov’t) How much FEMA
money will be spent there, paid for by the rest of tax paying Americans who don’t
live in a hurricane area. It would be
like me asking the federal gov’t to subsidize my power bills for the summer
months in Nevada. Why is someone else
responsible for the decisions I make?
Do I want them all to starve and die?
NO…but, when non union help arrives to assist, and they are turned away…then
blame your local union bosses. If a
private citizen has a generator, stored water, dehydrated food, blankets and
matches…and you don’t…don’t cry to the gov’t that you didn’t get your fair
share…you simply didn’t plan for the worst case scenario…and shame on you. But Republicans are much more likely to
ration and price fix gasoline and water, than to allow the market to force
prices to rise on limited resources…which is what causes demand to wane, and
you have a nice controlled chaos that clearly shows how to not waste a
perfectly good crisis. No doubt, we will
have federal funds create a super bunker to handle 6 million people without
water…a much better idea than forcing all these short sighted, gov’t reliant
morons to become better citizens and prepare themselves. Say what you want about Mormons…you don’t see
them in line at a gov’t bread line. They
are at home with several neighbors baking their own bread because they stocked
up on potable water, flour and other raw materials. You don’t have to move to Utah, become a
Prepper, or go on a mission to help less fortunate…but when it starts to rain,
and you don’t stop facebooking long enough to grab enough supplies to stay
alive for 72 hours…then I really don’t think it is my job to give a shit…I
mean, you don’t.
