do you consider yourself a libertarian?

don't worry, some of us buy too many books to make up for it

the freest countries according to freeexistence.org

Rank Nation            Overall    Property   Taxes      Speech     Ltd Govt   Guns       Drugs      Corruption Inflation  Business   
1    Switzerland       76         90         71         94         66         60         45         86         88         82         
2    Chile             73         85         75         100        83         47         45         70         83         72         
3    Estonia           72         90         82         100        55         48         40         70         82         79         
4    Australia         71         90         63         100        62         20         55         79         85         89         
5    Canada            71         90         80         100        50         30         50         83         77         82

From Tim Bateman, far upthread:

as my Head of History at School once put it: 'The only good laws are the ones that create more freedom than they destroy.'

This assertion postulates that "freedom" is the highest possible good. This is not a self-evident proposition. Why should we take this on faith? Why must we promote freedom above "justice" or "happiness" or "community", or a score of other social ideals?

Next, it is entirely unclear to me how any law's amount of created or destroyed freedom would be quantified. If, for example, legally relegating a class of humans to slavery were to allow greatly expanded "freedom" for a somewhat larger class of slave owners, wouldn't that meet this teacher's criteria for a "good law"?

During the Enlightenment this sort of saying used to be scorned as 'cant'.

xp. ah, chile, were abortion is illegal in all cases, so free, just the best freedom.

Libertarians smell like wee.

― Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Monday, August 26, 2002 7:24 AM Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I wonder if Tim Bateman was related to Jay Bateman?

as my Head of History at School once put it: 'The only good laws are the ones that create more freedom than they destroy.'

the problem that most libertarians can't get their heads around is that there are many forms of "freedom" (or liberty) and that they often conflict with one another. so "maximizing freedom" is not really an achievable goal because one freedom may get in the way of another.

sorry for that freshman poli-sci stuff but i have a few libertarians in my FB feed and it drives me nuts when they treat 'freedom' like it's this singular transparent thing.

the problem that most <people> can't get their heads around is that there are many forms of <political idea> and that they often conflict with one another. so <political idea> is not really an achievable goal because one <political idea> may get in the way of another.

― wizzz! (amateurist), Thursday, August 18, 2016 4:11 AM (15 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

ftfy

how is this not a Tim and Eric skit pic.twitter.com/Pv6knmMdqt

— go birds 🦅 (@LarryWebsite) February 8, 2018

hahahahahaha

i am a little concerned by that guy's indignation about needing a license to make toast and i kinda want him to have to pass a test before he can operate any technology with a heat source

No way

they're doing a bit

Toasterman is insane looking though

guys you really need to watch more video clips from the libertarian convention

^^ this is also what I say to anyone who says I don't understand the libertarian party

there was also a moment where a nude fat man bounded across the stage and everyone loved it

omg that twitter thread has more clips

these are all... something

I take it back, it was a underwear-clad near-nude man, and he appears in that twitter thread :)

https://youtu.be/RqZVVvp95nc
best of toasterman

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EmKViuyUcAA1CCg?format=jpg&name=small

Hell yeah baby! We stan our queen

Nice!

so she’s clearly gotta be “Deep State” now on the Q, right??

no

Legalize child labor.

Children will learn more on a job site than in public school.

— Libertarian Party NH (@LPNH) June 7, 2021

Yes. Children should especially learn how to pick our crops. Since they are already low to the ground they are ideal for picking lettuce, strawberries, cucumbers and similar edibles. Their job site would be open air, they'll get lots of exercise, and they'll learn every day what it feels like to be devalued, exploited and abused. Invaluable lessons to carry them through their miserable lives.

counterthought - children will learn more watching Libertarians being set ablaze and screaming for their lives

https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/original/001/237/129/e97.jpg