From The Wiki Damn It
Stephen Green, Vodka Pundit, was discussing/live blogging Tuesday's Republican debate and it came out that Stephen (or Vodka as he is fondly known) was once a card carrying Libertarian. So I left a few words:
Another ex-card-carrying-Libertarian. Woo hoo.
I remember a Lib fundraiser calling me about a month after 9/11 and I made smoke come out of his ears.
They haven't called back since. The party must have shrunk 40% in that month.
I've got a few of them on a Ron Paul thread at Classical Values and one guy thought we beat the Barbary Jihadis in 1801-03 (Jefferson) with Letters of Marque and privateers.
Then I pulled up some quotes from the wiki (from the wiki damn it!!!!) and he went quiet.
So then he goes all "no declaration of war" on me and I pulled up another wiki (from the wiki damn it!!!!) about the War on the Barbary Jihadis. More silence. Then I pulled up the actual AUMF and compared it with Jefferson's Congress AUMF from the wiki (from the wiki damn it!!!!) and he hasn't been back since.
Libs live in Libertopia. The land that never was or will be. Like the Socialists looking for the New Socialist Man the Libs are looking for New Libertarian Man. I hope they find him and marry him.
H/T Instapundit
Cross Posted at Classical Values
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6 comments:
I once found a web site by philosophical libertarians, that actually described what they thought an ideal society would be like. Their model was Celtic society.
Which reveals certain weaknesses. The Celts were conquered by the Romans, piecemeal over a span of a century or so. Vercingetorix was too little (only the Gallic Celts) and too late to stop the Romans.
The Hawaiians had a culture similar in some respects, until Kamehameha united the islands, by conquering almost all of them.
This is the serious flaw in libertarian society, it is too fragmented politically to defend itself from a well organized external threat, or even from an ambitious, persistent internal one.
And that's an inherent flaw, since political fragmentation is is deemed a desirable characteristic.
That is why we have a Constitution with gives the Federal government the responsibility for defense.
The problem is that the Federal government has grown to the point that it now does many things that have nothing to do with defense. It's swung too far to the other side.
a dam nit: I think that the correct term is Letters of Marque and Reprisal.
If the History Channel is correct, we didn't beat them: The State Department pulled defeat from the jaws of victory. The Naval officer Captain[?] Eaton in charge of the assault on the pirates was betrayed by the State Dept. Eaton retired and died a few years later of alcoholism (he was driven to drink in despair).
njartist,
You are correct. I was referring to the privateers as the implementors of the policy.
I was not aware of the State Dept thingy. Thanks.
That would explain why we had to have a second go at the jihadis.
Our problems with the dips is not recent evidently.
cxx_guy said:
"That is why we have a Constitution with gives the Federal government the responsibility for defense.
The problem is that the Federal government has grown to the point that it now does many things that have nothing to do with defense. It's swung too far to the other side."
I'd have to agree there, I just don't know if the lbertarians are the right answer for the US at the moment... their "ideal society" seems too far in the other direction again. At the moment though, someone like Ron Paul might be a way to reel in the ridiculous excesses to which the current president has brought the federal government if his ideals are not exactly great for a long-term model for the federal government.
I also find the whole; left vs. right; dems versus GOP; thing in the US almost hilariously dangerous. The most left wing Dems in the US wold be centrist in a EU country like Ireland, that's how "right-wing" america has become/has always been.
Cormac,
We are the descendants of rebels, misfits, and dissenters.
Liberty is probably our most important value.
Europeans find this very hard to understand - for the most part.
However, this idea of liberty makes us the most dynamic major country in the world. It is also why when peace keepers are wanted, Americans are the most prized. We want every one to enjoy liberty. Our idea of imperialism is to liberate countries and when the liberation is done and firmly established, leave.
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