❝❝*grins*

That's the point. People can and should make their own choices.

The only point in taking over the world is to make sure that people do make their own choices.

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The same could be said of almost any group.

But I'll stick to speaking for myself.

What gives another man authority to rule your choices? His degrees? That he's elected? That he's "smarter" than you? That he can juggle numbers better than an Atlantic City accountant?

What makes you more qualified to decide for your neighbor than he is? Would he agree with you? Or would he want to rule over you?

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Fair enough.

It seems to me that you think humans need to be governed. Is this your thinking? Might I ask why?

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Well I think that a bottom up approach beats a top down one. But that's probably my bias showing. After all, I am a part time trouble maker and a lowercase "L" libertarian.

Still, if you think humans need to be governed, who do you trust to rule? Would the guy three streets over trust the same people? Would the gal down the block trust the same people?

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I just don't agree that the default setting should be "government."

I also think that having government turns problems into Somebody Else's Problem (an idea I stole from the late Douglas Adams). You don't notice it because it's Somebody Else's Problem, even though you and your neighbors could fix it easily without technocrats and politicos telling you what is "right" and "wrong."

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I don't want to leave it there. I'm stretched a bit thin right now.

There are assumptions that libertarians make that others do not. Chief among these is the free market. Not the corporatized government-sanitized-for-your-protection thing, but the actual free market. Choosing to make (or not to make) transactions between consenting adults.

Then there's KYFHO, which I consider a major cornerstone. I wrote the FAQ on it. Literally. Check out your favorite search engine. With just KYFHO I'm one of the top five entires. With KYFHO and FAQ, I'm the top choice.

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I think you're wrong there.

Libertarianism presumes that people can mostly work out their differences for themselves.

Yep, I'd have to agree that libertarianism is anti-nation.

It is very pro-freedom though. And very individualist.

A nation has no virtues or vices except what it's citizens choose.❞❞

Tags: libertarian ∙ authority ∙ trust ∙ bottom up ∙ top down ∙ commenting ∙ Somebody Else's Problem ∙ KYFHO ∙ freedom ∙ virtues ∙ vices