• moakley@lemmy.world
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    9 months ago

    I’ve always considered myself a libertarian, but I’m coming to realize I need to find another word. I used to be able to explain that assholes were ruining the name, but now the assholes outnumber people like me by too much.

    I think the real turning point was when Jo Jorgensen said, “It is not enough to be passively not racist, we must be actively anti-racist,” and then she had to walk it back because the libertarian party was so fucking racist. Like, that’s not even a political statement. It’s a moral one, and it’s one I agree with.

    Then when the Libertarian Party changed their stance on abortion, I was done with them. I clung to the lowercase L label, but at this point it doesn’t seem worth it anymore.

    I just think the government should be limited to things that only the government can handle. Policing? Roads? Business regulations? Those are all things that can only be handled by the government. Restrictions on what kind of stove I can buy? Restrictions on what I can put in my body or how I dress or what my kids can read at school? Those are all bullshit.

    I guess it helps that I align with Democrats on most of the major issues now, but I still won’t consider myself a Democrat.

    • Maggoty@lemmy.world
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      9 months ago

      Stoves are a great example of why the richest among us want to push libertarianism. You see the freedom to buy a gas stove. They see the freedom to make products that are one penny cheaper but kill their users.

      Libertarianism and anarchism in general fail to account for sociopaths who are willing to make others suffer for their own gain.

      • Kichae@lemmy.ca
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        9 months ago

        Anarchism accounts for them just fine. The solution is to kick them out of society.

        It’s just a damn shame that we’ve all proven to be cowards and unwilling to do it.

        • tomenzgg@midwest.social
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          9 months ago

          I mean, how is that any qualitatively different than people enforcing stove regulations themselves? They could do it themselves, with enough motivation.