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Thread: Libertarian Ideas

  1. #21
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    Libertarian Ideas

    (1) Libertarians are not on the right wing as their social outlook and forign policy is VERY far left...they are off the traditional spectrum
    Libertarianism is right wing. The reason they believe in allowing as much immigration as possible is because the wogs will work for less. The reason they believe in legalising drugs is because smack addicts won't care about how crap their job is so long as they get paid.

    Would be nicer if they read more Robert Nozick and less Ayn Rand

  2. #22
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    Libertarian Ideas

    Also, they believe that taxation is theft but private property isn't

  3. #23
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    Libertarian Ideas

    Not exactly. It means that you would be guaranteed a basic income. If you worked in a way that brought you an income then you would then earn more. You would not be required (as you are at the moment) not to work (or study, as you have to be available for work) to continue to receive most social welfare payments.
    But the problem is many people will be content just to receive their basic income, and sit on their arse for the rest of the day. This would decrease our participation rate and thus decrease our competitiveness.



    Additionally it would mean respecting the value of most of the unpaid work done in our society, such as minding children, the ill or disabled etc.
    Granted, but surely there's a better [and cheaper] way to do this. Grants, tax incentives etc.

    It would provide a level of security which would mean people wouldn't be forced to be exploited by bad employers.
    Again, minimum wage increase and legislation are the way to do this.
    It would undermine the work-ethic which is a source of much damaging economic activity.
    What's wrong with someone having good work-ethic.



    It would enable a flourishing of small businesses and local economies which would be much better for individuals, communities and the planet than the over-globalised system we have.
    Or, it could cripple our economy and leave us with massive taxation and budget deficits.

    It would mean respecting the fact that we each arrive on the planet with a birthright, an entitlement to live on this planet by right, entitled to the air we need to breathe and water to drink, entitled to a share of the earth's common resources. (and not just as a handout to stop us from starving while we wait for someone who has grabbed the resources to employ us.)
    But it removes the fact that we come to this planet with the responsibilty to contribute to society. Isnt that just as important?
    It is far more practical to tax the resources (land, greenhouse gas absorption capacity of the atmosphere, etc.) and use the money to pay GBI than to allocate everyone an equal physical share of the land etc.
    Of course that's a far more practical means of collecting revenue, but not a very practical means of spending it.

    It would appear that your trying to develop a one-size-fits-all means of solving problems of over consumption, poverty and greed. However, the way to resolve these is with individual policies for each problem.

  4. #24
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    Libertarian Ideas

    Then why don't they want to invade invade invade and get us alll some oil??

    Or are you another one of these ideological types who thinks that socialism is the only moral way of doing things.

    I'm not defending their ideas but tax is theft, a nessicary one tho, think about it, their taking your money to give it to someone else...that's theft, but as I siad, we can't live without it.

    Private property is theft? What have you been smoking??

  5. #25
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    Libertarian Ideas

    Ok I don't want to sound patronising but I think you should read a bit more about political philosophy.

    That they might not approve of Dubya's every action doesn't preclude them from being right wing. Mussolini had a considerably different philosophy to Harold MacMillan, but both were still on the right.

    Libertarians are ideological types who believe a minimal state and a market economy is the only moral way of doing things. Yes, I consider myself a socialist, but picking up from my last point, I suspect my idea of socialism doesn't have a lot of middle ground with Arthur Scargill's.

    Social contract theories defend taxation: you are paying the government for certain services, one of them being protection of your property, leading to the question of...

    What is property? You are not born with a concept of ownership, it is learned. Land, gold, etc., has been there since the beginning, why should you be able to claim it as "yours"? The logic behind it is like me stealing your wallet and then telling you that you have to work to earn a new wallet, and the police and legal system preventing you from taking it back. If you want to get two perspectives on this question, read up on this guy and this guy

    There are a lot of perfectly rational, logical arguments for libertarianism and not all libbies are evil (Milton Friedman and Robert Nozick seem like perfectly reasonable blokes, regrardless of whether their ideas work), but don't have any illusions about what it is.

  6. #26
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    Libertarian Ideas

    socialism is just as ideological tho is it not?

    I get what your saying about property but are you saying that people should not be alloed to own their own home for example, what if the government decides they have a better use for the land there would be nothin you could do about it?

  7. #27
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    Libertarian Ideas

    Well, ownership of homes, cars, wallets, etc. can be defended because they are commonplace enough to be individualised. What socialist object to, however, is people profiting from necessary large-scale resources like agriculture.

  8. #28
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    Libertarian Ideas

    Well, ownership of homes, cars, wallets, etc. can be defended because they are commonplace enough to be individualised. What socialist object to, however, is people profiting from necessary large-scale resources like agriculture.
    Well God forbid that anyone should ever profit from something! Jeez!!
    MJ Coughlan,
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  9. #29
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    Libertarian Ideas

    When I use a hammer, a pair of shoes, etc., that I own, I am the only person using them. On the other hand, taking home the profit from a factory because I own it is equivalent to me taking home the gravedigger's wage because I inherited the shovel

  10. #30
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    Libertarian Ideas

    When I use a hammer, a pair of shoes, etc., that I own, I am the only person using them. On the other hand, taking home the profit from a factory because I own it is equivalent to me taking home the gravedigger's wage because I inherited the shovel
    So you recommend 100% inheritance tax on death then?

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