- Capitalism and Alternatives -

The libertarian illusion: no society

Posted by: Samuel Day Fassbinder ( Citizens for Mustard Greens, USA ) on June 21, 1999 at 13:10:57:

In Reply to: The key difference between a classical liberal and a statist posted by Shannon Medlock on June 20, 1999 at 14:31:16:

: In my opinion, the root of statism is born out of a contempt for people and the belief that they are inherently bad, whereas libertarianism is a political-economic belief on the assumption that people are essentially good.

SDF: Propertarianism is a taboo upon sharing based on a contempt for other people and what they might do with things, based on the assumption that people are essentially bad.

: Totalitarianism, whether in the form of communism

SDF: You too have been fooled by the phony communists. Pol Pot called his regime the "Democratic Republic of Kampuchea". Did you believe him when he said it was democratic? So why should you believe him when he said it was communist? Are you a "discriminating" fool who believes liars only half the time?

: or despotism, begins with the presupposition that people are unfit to rule themselves,

SDF: Nope, communism is based upon rule by the people, all the people, not merely by the ruling financial classes.

: whether because of mass stupidy, immorality or whatever; and therefore need rules, regulations, bureaucrats and despots to be ruled by. Totalitarianism also believes that the interests of individuals are antagonistic when left to themselves and therefore need to be subjected to nationalistic objectives such as war.

SDF: By this definition, the United States, which spends more than four times as much on its military than the second-largest military spending nation, is a totalitarian dictatorship.

: On the obverse side of the coin, classical liberals, libertarians and supporters of a free-market begin with the assumption that people are inherently good and are fit to be the sole arbitrators of their own lives.

SDF: Based on the illusion of "every man a Robinson Crusoe," and ignoring the interdependencies that make up real-life society. People are not, never have been, and never will be the sole arbitrators of their own lives, they've always been and will always be hemmed in by social connections.

:They believe that the individualistic interests of people are naturally compatible. Libertarians generally like people and think the best of them.

SDF: A free-market system makes government into a commodity to be sold to the highest bidder. And if government is to produce a profit for those who put up the highest bid for its services, it must be coercive, preferably in the most totalitarian mode possible.



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