How The GOP Misunderstands Libertarians (and why they are angry)

    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.