I finally realized why I don't call myself a libertarian

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There was actually a pretty decent list in the first post. Among the things in the list was that I was in favor of free trade and that I was against subsidies and tariffs, which is why I wonder where on earth you got the protectionism idea, and I'm again suspicious that that's your view that you're projecting.

My economic position, I would say, is that I'm not morally opposed to the idea of government intervention in markets, I'm simply practically opposed to it on the grounds that it rarely works well (or as intended). I do actually think there are some cases to be made for exceptions to this, like some public utilities, in which the practical implementation makes the idea of competition almost absurd.

I'd be happy to address specific questions on economics if you have them, but I don't really feel like compiling a list of every economic thought I've ever had.

And I don't really feel like answering a bunch of questions if the eventual goal is for you to find a better label for me. Esoteric labels are hardly useful. What's the point of using a label if nobody knows what the fuck it means?
 
I agree with you, but would note that it isn't ALL libertarians that feel that way (see my previous post about idealists vs pragmatists)
 
a libertarian only come off as an asshole because a true libertarian does not believe in the idea that it is the governments has right to take from the rich and give to the poor. This creates an emotional response from most people who consider them selfs entitled to whatever someone else has and they cannot achieve on their own.
 
Check out this thread if you want to see some stunning examples of that: http://forums.offtopic.com/showthread.php?t=4525534

I'm completely open to the idea that my perceptions are biased and inaccurate. It's practically certain that they are.
 
off topic question and more physical than anything but gives insight to a persons social and economic views

Heinz Delima

A woman was near death from a special kind of cancer. There was one drug that the doctors thought might save her. It was a form of radium that a druggist in the same town had recently discovered. The drug was expensive to make, but the druggist was charging ten times what the drug cost him to produce. He paid $200 for the radium and charged $2,000 for a small dose of the drug. The sick woman's husband, Heinz, went to everyone he knew to borrow the money, but he could only get together about $1,000 which is half of what it cost. He told the druggist that his wife was dying and asked him to sell it cheaper or let him pay later. But the druggist said: "No, I discovered the drug and I'm going to make money from it." So Heinz got desperate and broke into the man's store to steal the drug for his wife.Should Heinz have broken into the store to steal the drug for his wife? Why or why not?
 
The irony in this thread is that 99% of people on DIAC, period, are assholes - not just libertarians.
 
That and most libertarians act like assholes, well at least on here. Well, maybe there are a few assholes who are so loud and smelly that we forget about the nice libertarians.
 
doubt it. i bet 99% of the people on here act like assholes on the internet but would never think twice about pulling over there cars to help someone who just wrecked or running to get help after someone was mugged. Also i bet the majority of people who frequent this forum has a higher education and a higher average salary than the average Joe
 
Part of the difference is that my attraction to libertarianism is more pragmatic than moral. Not to say that I don't think the moral notions aren't nice, but I'm not an idealist.

It's been my experience that people who base libertarianism on moral notions tend to think that poor people are all lazy sacks of shit who get what they deserve, and they feel morally superior to them for having made their own, successful way in the world (after being born to an upper-middle class family in a rich suburb and making it through college on trust funds, of course).

Basically, a lot assholes are attracted to the idealistic moral components of libertarianism in a very Gordon Gekko way. I'm attracted to the efficiency of some of the economic ideals of libertarianism.

At least, that's my suspicion.
 
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