Is this the libertarian utopia some Steemers dream of?
I've been told there's lots of libertarians here...but not the types that are described by this caller, right?
I've been told there's lots of libertarians here...but not the types that are described by this caller, right?
I guess this guy means anarcho-capitalists when he sad "extreme" libertarians. Yes, there are a ton of us on here, in fact @dan is one. Libertarians have embraced bitcoin, and crypto since the beginning. Many of the developers for different cryptos are libertarians, and libertarian media has covered the rise of crypto for years. As you know, economics are one of the most important issues to the liberty movement. We advocate for sound money, and an end to the criminal central banking cartel. We see crypto as an opportunity to have a currency and transaction system free from manipulation and inflation by government. It's only natural that new social media built on the blockchain would be inhabited by liberty minded individuals. You and your audience are more than welcome on the platform though.
It must be really interesting being a banker right now. They can get filthy rich by jumping into the Bitcoin/Etheruem/blockchain phenomenon or they can leave it well alone because they see it as a threat to their existence. Meanwhile trillions of dollars of fiat wealth will leech away to the blockchain anyway and they actually lose money by not participating. But if they do participate the legitimize it and hasten the end to their dirty little rent-seeking profiteering scam.
Maybe they think they can get in, get rich and then collude with the US and other world government to destroy it - selling out just before the crash, or using their usual "financial instrument" scams to guarantee they win big even in a crash. I mean if there is a way for them to have their cake and eat it, leaving standard Bitcoin holders screwed at the end - they'll find it - as they hoover up even more trillions of dollars.
I'm just going trough Rothbard's "For a new libery" and he mentiones Irleand before the English came as an example of a libertarian social order, and it did work, as opposed to socialism.
It's hard to bring up these subjects without some people feeling attacked. I don't think David is necessarily calling the ideas of Libertarians evil or anything that dramatic, I think his point is that they might not be applicable.
I've had a few conversations with fellow Steemians regarding the ideas of how a world with a smaller government would be. For the most part regardless of our political position we would like the same outcome, prosperity, health and ultimately our concept of happiness. However, we might not agree on the path to get there.
I think that sometimes the Libertarian ideas are too difficult to apply to our world, not because they are necessarily bad, but because we have grown to a size that it would be close to impossible for us to begin to apply them.
If any of us thinks that somehow, someway the powers to be will let go of their grasp of our currently political system for Utopian ideas, we might be setting ourselves up for disappointment.
Would I ideally like a smaller government, to pay little to no taxes, more privacy, etc etc? Of course I would!! Do I think its feasible, or even possible in my life time, I'm not so sure about that.
The other point being made here, which I think is pretty balanced is that if we believe that a free market driven society would organically create the necessary mechanisms to develop infrastructure, medical system, etc etc. We would also have to ponder that we might be stating that a free market driven society would develop a governance of some sorts as to organize such projects, bring them to fruition.
Which would take us to step one, now we have a type of government. So maybe, it might be more practical to find the compromise, determine in what areas we benefit from a free market and in what areas we simply are better of with a government structure.
At least, that is my current position.
I understand that people hold political ideas not because they are evil or want to hurt others intentionally - some maybe do, but most don't, but "problem" with non-libertarians or statists that they mostly don't have any principles to stand on. When libertarians call for ending the war on drugs for example, we do it out of principle, not because we want people do drugs, but because we think that every person owns himself and his body and he is free to do whatever he wants with it (studpid things included), when we call for cutting welfare benefits and lowering taxes we don't do it because we hate the poor, but because we understand that taking other's people hard earned money is wrong, it would be wrong for someone to force people to do stuff for him, so it's wrong for someone to take other people's money by force... Libertarian idea is so simple, yet you can apply it to so many areas.
When you say libertarian ideas are hard to apply to or world, you are contradicting yourself. Why? When you wrote this response to my comment, you supposed - rightfully so - that non-violence is meaningful and that I am a free individual that can be reasoned with. Everything libertarians want to do is expand this principle to everyone including government... make this non-violence universal, and apply it to the government. Does government treat me the same when they take your money? No, the government uses violence.
You can have competence-based hierarchies in a libertarian social order and organize with whoever you want and however you want (but you can't use force), and in reality there is no compromise, it's like saying "we are going to stop rape" but we will choose 100 people who can rape without being punished. Libertarianism is about principles, not "engineering" society.
@nullpointer and honestly brother, there is probably not one sentence you said there that I could possibly disagree with. I believe the ideals of libertarianism are quite beautiful, I just don't know if we could ever be stronger than the people holding the guns.
Maybe I'm guilty of not having enough faith in humanity, maybe that is my biggest flaw as a person. It can be quite easy for people to abuse power, that even when a social structure has started with a positive/ideal goal eventually greed and corruption show their face.
But again, I may be guilty of not having enough faith in us humans, but it also might be a good sign that I'm here, learning a bit more every day.
A "libertarian utopia" would still require a monopoly of force to keep the poor separate from the rich, otherwise the poor would eat the rich via revolution when the class divide became too wide
The difference is government has force behind it. If a community is peacefully and voluntarily organizing, then it's not government. Libertarianism is anything but "utopian". Thinking a few elected officials in Washington wielding the immense power of government, and the incredible incentives of lobbyists will ever do anything but line their pockets is utopian to me.
Well, I meant to use the word utopian for its traditional meaning really.
Utopian.- A Utopia is an imagined community or society that possesses highly desirable or nearly perfect qualities for its citizens
So in reality I'm not in disagreement with your statement one bit.
Oh I see
nice
Nice
This is the one issue that's still irking me, the political milieu. I'm OK w/ the vision being had/platform being started by libertarians—not like "Leftbook" as some call Facebook is an innocent space (which now seems to be an essay platform for hubristic analysis, leftist but less than sincere in its narcissism)—but there's no reason to stick around if more folks who would want my content don't join. I actually feel a little #Sad! knowing how fast I leap to comment on your posts, but you're a familiar face! In the long-run I think that social networking platforms on—and the meta-level apps/developments built atop— a blockchain can prevent another 2016, but that's a post, not a comment.
To Gary Johnson: Welp. You tried.
I will never get Libertarians. One would have to live in a strange detached bubble to entertain the thought for even a moment. Free market is a myth like trickle down economics. High level organizing and creating and networking is not feasible without oversight.
If you want to "get" libertarians you could start by reading one of the thousands of books by classical liberal authors.
I was there with you until you practically said that you get a government from meritocracy... Can't grasp your point here?
Nice job! Video quality great!