Dems and GOP are fun to bash, but so are Libertarians...

[FireIceTalon]

I don't really see anything new there. Lots of circular logic and innuendo with very little burden of proof. I like how the author tries to make the claim that our current recession is caused by the rich wanting to make sure there are enough unemployed around to keep people from starting unions and asking for more work-place rights. Yeah... Blame it on "the man." FireIceTalon, no offence, but you still aren't bringing anything new to the table. This article is less about Libertarian bashing and more anti-Capitalism, and if you try and correlate the Libertarian party with being the creator and instigator of Capitalism, even though Capitalism runs in ALL parties, I'll go murder a kitten.

Edit: In retrospect, I’m not even sure why I’m bothering to reply to this thread. Oh well, the damage is done.

Ah, hello Taem. Long time

Well...I think you kind of misunderstood the purpose of the article, even if the authors views of Capitalism are probably similar to my own. It pokes fun at Libertarians (which is most of them) who swear Capitalism can save everything and everyone while being 'left' on social issues, to make it look like they appeal to both sides of the isle but the fact of the matter is they are very much a right winged party like the other two, that gives the ILLUSION to appeal to the left (though ironically there is no true 'leftist' party in the USA currently that has any meaningful political power). Libertarians like Ron Paul always claim to be anti-war, but Capitalism by its very nature will always lead to war, and in fact, IT arguably NEEDS war. War is, afterall, big business - for oil and steel corporations, bankers, and politicians that are in kahootz with said corporations - imperialism and global hegemony come with the territory. It's just funny that Libertarians preach so much about free, unbridled Capitalism (as if there is a difference between that and so-called 'crony' capitalism, lmao - ALL capitalism is crony!), but want the USA to withdraw from policing the world - you cannot have it both ways - unless you are Somalia of course, which needs no commenting on. And for a party that claims to be leftist on social issues, they want to uphold an oppressive and volatile economic system that curtails democracy - both politically and socially - for historically marginalized groups of people (namely minorities, gays/lesbians, women, the poor, etc). Thus the purpose is defeated, but trying to explain that to them is like pounding your head against a brick wall. Its a party for the ruling class to try and appeal to the common man. Thankfully, there are a few people (like myself) who know better. So all the preaching they do about "freedom and self-determination" in system that is a plutocracy is null. Don't believe me? Go read their platform on their official website - they want virtually almost EVERYTHING (except the police force, military, and infrastructure) to be privatized.

Not that the GOP doesn't want this either, but at least they are consistent, in being conservative on both economic and social issues. Libertarians, however, want to be fiscally conservative and socially leftist - which is a complete contradiction. Again, you cannot have it both ways. But I view most social issues as being somewhat more trivial anyways because social conservatives will NEVER get Hollywood to censor its movies, rap musicians to be more "morally responsible" with their lyrics, evolution to not be taught in schools/religion to be taught as science, a constitutional amendment for prohibiting abortion, and so on. None of these things will EVER happen. They know this is a lost cause for them, and the only reason they push it so much is to distract the masses from the real issue by which politics was birthed from: class inequality and economics. This is where the Libertarian party comes in. They say, "hey look lefties, we agree with you on social issues!!" all the while trying to stay loyal to their conservative foundations by drinking the Capitalism kool-aid. But all that ends up happening really, in the political world, is that they end up being marginalized and disliked by both sides instead, and they end up appealing to only a very particular voting populace. The far Right (whether its Tea Party nationalists, power-transition realists/Neo-Cons, or even more traditional conservatives along the lines of Barry Goldwater) despises them for wanting to be in favor of gay marriage, being pro-choice or cutting military spending' and Leftists (be it standard Liberal Democrats, Social Democrats, Fabian Socialists, or my radical brethren: Marxists and Anarchists) reject them for being too Neo-Liberal, economically. Basically, their party and its entire platform is just......laughable, to put it nicely. Not that the GOP or the Dems are really any better, and even the U.S. Socialist Party isn't revolutionary enough for my liking, but again at least these groups are consistent, even if I cant stand either of them. I have more respect for a man who lets me know where he truly stands, even if he's wrong, than one who pretends to be something that he really isn't.

I would agree that calling the current recession being caused by the rich wanting to curtail workers movements and labor unions is probably a bit of a stretch, but that isn't the point of the article anyways, which was to point out how the Libertarian Party wants to appear that it represents the common man. But when it's all said and done, it is for corporate interests just like our other two major parties. And besides, we don't need a recession to accomplish reducing workers rights and the decline of unions, Capitalism itself does a fine enough job of doing that whether it's in a recession or not - recessions are merely a symptom that occurs as a result of Capitalism's countless contradictions and flaws. A recession is not a financial crisis. Capitalist ITSELF IS the crisis. Nor is there any such thing as a "free market" or an "invisible hand" - they are socially constructed myths. But this article isn't about my views of Capitalism - I have made well clear these views in the past, if my avatar isn't enough. It is about the hypocrisy and downright stupidly utopian philosophy of the Libertarian Party, that they think they can solve the worlds problems while keeping Capitalism intact, or by making society even more Capitalist, while reducing the size of government - a complete joke. Government is a byproduct of Capitalism and class antagonist systems in general, and is necessary to keep Capitalism alive (exception: Somalia, which uses a military force to keep their wonderful Capitalist utopia intact). The party is a corporate tool from the ruling class to deceive the working class in yet another way - nothing more, nothing less. Sadly, it works wonders on the average person, who is usually far less intellectually astute than you or I.

The article, minus a couple rhetorical jabs, is pretty much on point: Libertarians are a conservative and reactionary party designed to appeal and get younger, more liberal citizens to move to the right on the political scale, and from realizing their economic interests by tapping in on irrelevant social issues and culture wars, just in a different way than the Republican propaganda machine does (a la Fox News, Glenn Beck, Rush Limbaugh, Ann Coulter and the rest of the moronic neo-con trolls). Working as intended. Ill quote Imperius here and say, "You cannot hide from me, no matter what form you choose to wear. Let your true selves be revealed, conservatives".