Tuesday, May 25, 2010

The Libertarian Test

It seems to me that being a Libertarian is fast becoming the new fad...

Here are a couple of things to know if you truly want to be a Libertarian.

1. War is bad! The only time it is justifiable, is when your country is being actively attacked. And in that case, the war should be purely defensive. Preemptive strikes, even if you can conjure up phony evidence is not a reason to wage war.

The war in Iraq is one of those wars, and to be fair... so is the war in Afghanistan. Sure, you can argue that the Afghan war is retaliation for 9/11, but 9/11 would likely not have happened, had the US not been sticking it's nose into politics in the Middle East.

True Libertarians would be against funding Israel, messing with other countries governments and waging wars on foreign soil. End of story.

2. Human rights. I am an immigrant to this country, and as such I speak funny. If I were to go down to Arizona, technically I could be asked to provide law enforcement with my papers. But that won't happen to me, and do you know why? Because I'm white and I look just like every other US citizen out there.

I have a friend who is part Mexican and who was born here in the US. She speaks like an American, works her ass off, pays taxes and all of that. And yet, if she goes down to Arizona, she might be asked to provide her papers. That is a violation of her rights as a US citizen.

The new Arizona law is distinctly anti-Libertarian.

So, if you want to call yourself a Libertarian, and jump on the hot new trend that is, being a Libertarian, please think long and hard about whether you actually are a Libertarian, or simply just a racist with a bad attitude, and a predisposition to being an asshole.

6 comments:

  1. In my book the 'test' of libertarian is whether one really believes and lives the Non-aggression principle (sometimes called Zero aggression principle) which simple is "No initialization of force nor fraud".

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  2. I like it! Far more eloquent than my sorry attempt.

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  3. While I'd probably pass your test, for the most part (I'm complicated on #1, all 'but what ifs') I'm not, I suspect, a libertarian.

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  4. Ms Mouse... I suspect you might be a little like me. I don't think I fit into a particular political mold. There are aspects of government, where I am definitely very libertarian in my approach and yet others where I'm pretty much pure socialist. Just depends on the issue really.

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  5. We're complicated and can't be boxed!

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  6. "There are aspects of government, where I am definitely very libertarian in my approach and yet others where I'm pretty much pure socialist."

    For me as well, which is why I identify with left libertarianism/social anarchism

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