Footnotes to Plato from the foothills of the Superstition Mountains

Category: Libertarianism

  • Gary Johnson Opposes ‘Illegal Immigrant’

    Another reason to not be a libertarian.  (Johnson is the libertarian 'losertarian' candidate for president.)

  • Why Not Privatize Marriage?

    Being a conservative, I advocate limited government.  Big government leads to big trouble as we fight endlessly, acrimoniously, and fruitlessly over all sorts of issues that we really ought not be fighting over.  As one of my slogans has it, "The bigger the government, the more to fight over."  The final clause of the First Amendment…

  • Libertarians and Drug Legalization

    An old post from about three years ago that bears reposting in the current climate. ……………… Libertarians often argue that drug legalization would not lead to increased drug use.  I find that preposterous, and you should too.  There are at least three groups of people who are dissuaded from drug use by its being illegal. 1.…

  • Libertarian (‘Losertarian’) Party Strikes Again

    Ken Cuccinelli could have won in Virginia had the Libertarian candidate not siphoned off votes.  Libertarianism is a healthy, if extreme, counterbalance to the the hard leftism that controls the Democrat Party, and the soft leftism of the RINOs.  But the Libertarian Party is not only unnecessary, but destructive.  Libertarians should follow the lead of…

  • How the New York Times Got Libertarianism Wrong, Yet Again

    David Gordon explains: Why write an article on a subject you know nothing about? This is a question that Amia Srinivasan might usefully have asked herself. She is a Prize Fellow in philosophy at All Souls College, Oxford, one of the most prestigious academic positions in the academic world; and her webpage at Oxford includes…

  • The Folly of “I Have Nothing to Hide”

    This is an entry from the old blog, first posted 28 December 2005.  It makes an important point worth repeating, especially in light of such recent scandals as the harassing by the Internal Revenue Service of individuals and groups whole political views differ from those of the current administration. …………..  In an age of terrorism, enhanced…

  • Why Not Just ‘Privatize’ Marriage?

    In the nearly nine years I have been posting my thoughts on this weblog I don't believe I have said anything about so-called same-sex marriage, except for a non-substantive swipe at Matt Salmon a few days ago.  There are some entries in my Marriage category, but nothing about same-sex marriage.  It is high time for me…

  • Nick Gillespie on Why Youth Favor Obama and Conservatism’s Contradictions

    Support for Obama among 18-29 year olds exceeds that of any other age cohort.  Reason Magazine's Nick Gillespie argues that Obama is in the process of "screwing them big time."  Gillespie is right.   What caught my eye, however, was Gillespie's  explanation of why conservatives fail to get the youth vote: I'd argue that what makes "the conservative message"  resonate less…

  • Newtown and the Bipartisan Police State

    This article, by Anthony Gregory, is well worth reading although it gets off to  a somewhat rocky start: I think the most conspicuous problem is the glorification not of guns or fictional violence, but of actual violence. America is a militarized society, seat of the world’s empire. The U.S. government is always at war with…

  • More Reasons Not to be a Libertarian: Abortion and Guns

    This from the Libertarian Party Platform: 1.4 Abortion Recognizing that abortion is a sensitive issue and that people can hold good-faith views on all sides, we believe that government should be kept out of the matter, leaving the question to each person for their conscientious consideration. 1.5 Crime and Justice Government exists to protect the…

  • Libertarians are the Ralph Naders of the Conservative Side

    I just heard Dennis Prager say that on his radio show.  Exactly right.  The point is to do good, not feel good about yourself by making some meaningless, ineffectual, narcissistic, self-congratulatory, adolescent 'statement.'  It is a futile gesture to 'stand on principle' and 'vote your conscience' when the candidate representing your principles is unelectable.  Politics is…

  • Vote Libertarian, Waste a Vote

    Did you perchance vote for Gary Johnson for president? Then you wasted your vote on an unelectable candidate and helped Barack Obama's re-election. The truth of a view does not depend on its popularity.  But the political implementation of a view does depend on the electability of the candidate or candidates who represent it.  If…

  • Ron Paul and Libertarian Extremism

    Ron Paul made a strong showing in Iowa last night despite his coming in third behind Santorum (second) and Romney (first).  But there is no way that Paul will receive the Republican nomination. His irresponsible foreign policy positions alone disqualify him.  You may disagree with that, but most agree with me, and that includes the…

  • An Anti-Border Argument Demolished

    Libertarians and conservatives share common ground, unlike conservatives and contemporary liberals (i.e., leftists); but on some issues libertarians are as loony as the looniest liberal.  One such issue is open borders.  Deogolwulf at The Joy of Curmudgeonry supplies the requisite refutation of one open border argument: One sometimes hears the following enthymeme: most of nature…

  • Value-Free Government?

    Libertarians sometimes speak as if government could and ought to be value-free.  But value-free government is as impossible as value-free education. Education cannot be value-free for the simple reason that all education, assuming it is not confused with indoctrination, presupposes that knowledge is a value and ignorance a disvalue.  If knowledge is a value then…