Sunday, February 3, 2013

Wow - libertarians can cram politics into ANYTHING

Posted by dkuehn at 9:35 PM
Even a power outage in a Superbowl.

It did not take long at all for complaints about government to trickle into my various feeds.

Take a night off, guys!

11 comments:

  1. UnknownFebruary 3, 2013 at 10:33 PM

    The coercive leviathan of government never takes a holiday, so its opponents must be ever watchful ;)

    ReplyDelete
  2. MinFebruary 4, 2013 at 1:47 AM

    What was their point? That the power should be free to fail?

    ReplyDelete
  3. AnonymousFebruary 4, 2013 at 6:48 AM

    I slept through the whole thing, but I wasn't even aware that the Super Bowl was yesterday until I woke up and checked my news feed. Even still, I'm trying to figure out what sort of libertarian argument can possibly be gleaned from a power outage at the Super Bowl. Somwthing to do with DHS or TSA, possibly? Still I don't see the connection. Perhaps I'm one of the better libertarians on your friends list, at least in terms of choosing my arguments/complaints. Then again, maybe not.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Daniel KuehnFebruary 4, 2013 at 7:20 AM

      You are :)

      Government owned stadium and government regulated utility.

      Delete
    2. AnonymousFebruary 4, 2013 at 7:49 AM

      Ah, I see. I guess that I probably could make libertarian arguments dealing with those things, I just don't see much benefit in doing so. It's kind of like the whole privatized roads thing, you aren't going to win any converts and most people will just think you're nuts (a double strike). I am nuts, but I try not to advertise it so much. :)

      Delete
    3. Daniel KuehnFebruary 4, 2013 at 7:59 AM

      I don't think the big issue is that it's likely to be unsuccessful - it's that it doesn't make much sense. Arguments that the government isn't perfect so government is bad make no more sense than arguments that the market isn't perfect so the market is bad.

      People argue the privatized roads case badly as well. They seem to think that it's sufficient to demonstrate that the private sector would build roads. That's not really the heart of the question. Of course they'll build roads. The question is would they build anything that could reasonably be considered enough roads.

      Libertarians often think they make awesome arguments and nobody is willing to listen to them... sometimes they just have very bad arguments. I'm not thinking about you in any of this, but on these sorts of things it is one of the least introspective communities out there.

      Delete
    4. AnonymousFebruary 4, 2013 at 8:35 AM

      Oh, I've made plenty of bad arguments. Worse, there's an 11 year archive of many of them (i.e. the internet).

      I do understand what you're saying, I often cringe at what some libertarians say, and I often get into many arguments with other libertarians over this (I'm currently trying to show another libertarian that natural rights aren't universal due to the lack of a universal ethic). A bad argument is a bad argument is a bad argument. There's no way around it. None of us are immune to it, we can only hope that we get better at stating our position, as well as ensuring that our positions are consistent and logical. For me it is a continual learning process.

      Too often libertarians, at least internet libertarians, will make an argument just to disturb or make other people uncomfortable. Others do so by what I can only conclude to be some deep seated anger. And yet some do it merely to go against the grain. I'll admit that I've done it, but I try not to make it a habit. What I most want is for people to use their minds in order to see that there are alternative ways of thinking about things, and good ones at that. Too often people get stuck in a mode of thinking, such that they will reject all other considerations without looking at all possibilities. This is true of any subject.

      So long as a person is looking for answers in an attempt to find truth, then they will always have my respect. Too often this is not the case, however.

      Delete
    5. AnonymousFebruary 4, 2013 at 8:38 AM

      I'd just like to add that while you and I will disagree on many things, I still respect you because you are trying to find the truth. Your conception of it is different from mine, but the effort is what I most value.

      Delete
    6. Daniel KuehnFebruary 4, 2013 at 8:42 AM

      The feeling's mutual.

      Delete
  4. WillFebruary 4, 2013 at 12:34 PM

    Clearly, libertarians should be more agrieved by the real problem at hand: THE REFEREES STOLE TO GAME FOR BALTIMORE!!

    ReplyDelete
  5. The Libertarian Standard BearerFebruary 5, 2013 at 4:24 AM

    Correction:

    People can cram politics into anything.

    ReplyDelete

All anonymous comments will be deleted. Consistent pseudonyms are fine.

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)