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calimary

(80,699 posts)
18. "Bring in the clowns" indeed. Stinks too bad even for you, 'eh, Edwin?
Mon Dec 30, 2013, 09:52 AM
Dec 2013

Amazing piece from this Edwin Lyngar dude.

SNIP

"If you think that selfishness and cruelty are fantastic personal traits, you might be a libertarian. In the movement no one will ever call you an asshole, but rather, say you believe in radical individualism."

SNIP

"The Republican convention didn’t turn me off of libertarians, but I started losing respect for the movement while watching the financial meltdown. Libertarians were (rightly) furious when our government bailed out the banks, but they fought hardest against help for ordinary Americans. They hated unemployment insurance and reduced school lunches. I used to say similar things, but in such a catastrophic recession isn’t the government supposed to help? Isn’t that the lesson of the Great Depression?"

SNIP

"During Obama’s first term, I also went to graduate school for creative writing at progressive college, and I settled into my marriage with my wife, a Canadian and “goddamn liberal.” I can’t point to just one thing that pushed me left, but in Obama’s first term I had a change of heart, moving from a lifelong extreme into the bosom of conventional liberalism.

I began to think about real people, like my neighbors and people less lucky than me. Did I want those people to starve to death? I care about children, even poor ones. I love the National Park system. The best parts of the America I love are our communities. My libertarian friends might call me a fucking commie (they have) or a pussy, but extreme selfishness is just so isolating and cruel. Libertarianism is unnatural, and the size of the federal government is almost irrelevant. The real question is: what does society need and how do we pay for it?"

No shit, Sherlock. Gee, ya THINK????????

Shit - this whole damn thing is one for my quotes file. And he finishes up with a good one:

"If you believe the Johann Wolfgang von Goethe quote “None are more hopelessly enslaved than those who falsely believe they are free,” then libertarians live in a prison of their own ideology."

I guess some souls really CAN be saved. How 'bout that!

Could it be because of this reason ... MindMover Dec 2013 #1
All 24 Types of Libertarians Were There: freshwest Dec 2013 #2
This never gets old. I know one of almost all of them! nt Walk away Dec 2013 #3
Yes, it stays current because they haven't changed a bit. n/t freshwest Dec 2013 #7
"I can test my OWN food for botulism!" I'd LOL but it's scary that they think that way. n/t Beartracks Dec 2013 #8
I like your caricatures ... very cool ... MindMover Dec 2013 #16
great quote arely staircase Dec 2013 #4
And they question Pharaoh Dec 2013 #5
Edited by me. onestepforward Dec 2013 #6
How can you tell? pnwmom Dec 2013 #9
Please see above onestepforward Dec 2013 #10
Hey, blkmusclmachine Dec 2013 #11
Libertarianism is, in the end... Prophet 451 Dec 2013 #12
When Buzz Aldrin decked that guy it was if he did it to all the silly conspiracy theorists for me. ErikJ Dec 2013 #13
The Classical ''Ah-ha'' moment. DeSwiss Dec 2013 #14
Libertarianism can be summed up in one statement chungking34 Dec 2013 #15
Welcome to DU, chungking34! calimary Dec 2013 #19
Trying... not to... notice... similarities Number23 Dec 2013 #17
That's the basic problem with any flavor of anarchists. pnwmom Dec 2013 #20
But I think the real issue is that they aren't seeking organization as much as invade and conquer Number23 Dec 2013 #21
"Bring in the clowns" indeed. Stinks too bad even for you, 'eh, Edwin? calimary Dec 2013 #18
SEND in the Clowns. maxsolomon Dec 2013 #22
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