Reagan Was Wrong: The 9 Most Terrifying Words Are, "I'm a Libertarian and the Market Will Save You"

[devilgrrl]

I'll say!!!

===================

I was tailgating with my wife and two friends in the parking lot of Miller Park before a Brewers game yesterday, when a guy with a pasted-on, plastic, local-news-anchor smile approached our group. He wanted us to sign a petition to get his "buddy" on the ballot for state treasurer. Of course, the first question I asked him was which party his "buddy" belonged to, and the guy told us he was a Libertarian.

Poor guy, he didn't realize he was approaching a liberal blogger and his progressive friends. Not an audience that was going to easily buy what he had to sell. I politely told him that I wouldn't support a Libertarian candidate, and like a telemarketer dutifully and mechanically following a script provided to him to handle rejection, he asked why I didn't support Libertarians. I explained that I did not harbor a dislike or distrust of government, and that I thought there were certain jobs that only government could do. Without removing the wooden smile from his face, he moved to the next page of his telemarketer script and asked me if he could have one minute to "rebate" what I had said, and he proceeded to tell us that the free market is perfectly efficient and the best way to solve problems. I started to laugh and told him that, yes, the financial collapse two years ago was a great example of the market solving problems. And also, another great example was the oil pouring into the Gulf of Mexico. My wife and friends joined in the laughter, and our Libertarian guest could no longer maintain his fake smile. His voice and facial expression turned angry, and he stormed off to the next group of tailgaters, spitting out something barely intelligible at us as he left.

I thought this interaction perfectly encapsulated the anti-government, pro-market-solution obsession currently running through the right, especially among tea baggers and self-proclaimed libertarians. They love to cite Ronald Reagan's line that the "nine most terrifying words in the English language are, 'I'm from the government and I'm here to help.'" But I'm far more afraid of someone telling me, "I'm a Libertarian (or Tea Party member) and the market will save you."

You would think from listening to the rhetoric that we have two choices in this country: Either you adopt the right's notion of deregulation and an unfettered free market, or you are a socialist. There is no in-between. Which is, of course, patently false, but also maddeningly ignorant of recent American history. Taking the financial industry as an example, after the election of Franklin Roosevelt, Congress quickly enacted legislation, like the Securities Act of 1933, the Banking Act of 1933 (Glass-Steagall), and the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, meant to curb the excesses of an unfettered financial system, which had led to the stock market crash of 1929 and the depression that ensued. And for the next 45 years, the country was able to avoid any mass financial collapses.



more: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mitchell-bard/reagan-was-wrong-the-nine_b_628022.html

[laughingliberal]

1. It is high time we threw out every last vestige of Reagan's economic policies & try to restore...

economic security & opportunity to those of us not in the upper 1%.

[damntexdem]

2. Hear, hear! So very true.

And also, LOL!

[PA Democrat]

3. The infamous "invisible hand" of the free market will pick your pockets

and rob you blind without strong governmental regulation. These guys should run for office in Somalia if they hate government so much.

[Uncle Joe]

4. I can strongly relate to some Libertarian points of view in regards to personal liberty but

they do throw the baby out with the bathwater.

Thanks for the thread, devilgrrl.

[Catshrink]

5. Trickle down was diverted into siphon back up

I'm amazed that people still fall for the "give the rich tax breaks and they'll create jobs" bull crap. The only jobs created are overseas or H1Bs.

[onehandle]

6. K&R. nt

[devilgrrl]

7. F*** YOU trolls hitting the unrec button!

:hi: :hi: :hi:

[Hannah Bell]

8. kr

[devilgrrl]

9. Kick!

eom

[Gold Metal Flake]

10. I'm from the corporation and I'm here to help

RUN!!!!

[Martin Eden]

11. Hell Yeah!!! K&R n/t

[Scurrilous]

12. K & R

:thumbsup:

[MilitarismFTL]

13. As a canvasser for a left-leaning political organization

that is mostly underemployed due to the seasonal nature of electioneering, it is hilarious to read the description of the libertarian canvasser. I'm sure I reflect that exact sentiment from the point of view of my organization, though I typically make more patronizing statements when people object to my "socialist," rather than libertarian, intentions (even though any person with an education beyond "Drill, Baby, Drill!" would NEVER refer to what I do as anything close to socialism). However, I love the part about the wooden smile. :D So true of all canvassers!