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Republicans don’t want small government, they want a fascist police state and a corrupt military industrial complex to oppress people around the world to steal their shit while funding profitable wars for their contractors.
I think the last 2 people who wanted small government and balanced budgets were like John McCain (dead) and John Kasich (retired, but endorsed Joe Biden in 2020) and they’re no longer relevant.
Honestly, as a party, they need to go. I want an opposition party to the Democrats, but they’re not it. Hell, America really needs ranked choice voting and more open primaries, and probably 4 major political parties.
Hence the meme where the Republican party kills the Libertarians
and probably 4 major political parties.
George Washington was generally against political parties, but especially opposed to bicameralism.
username go brrrrrr
Interesting, the only thing that sets apart the US from being another Russia is the fact that the GOP has to switch with the democratic party every few years
Look I know that’s a hyperbolic statement because you’re dissatisfied with the USA’s political landscape, I am and I’m not American because their politics bleeds heavily internationally through culture.
But the US is FAR FAR away from being like Russia. It’s so different in many ways that to compare the two is like saying Chalk is almost like Cheese because their chemical formulas both have Carbon in them. It’s completely nonsensical. Anything organic has carbon in it.
Just like how all countries have common problems: corruption, malfunctioning subsystems within the government machine, wealth inequality, etc, the list is endless.
The difference is the whole the parts make up.
Let’s take a left-field example: smiling and saying hello to strangers.
Americans (with some exceptions like NYC residents) are stereotyped as being friendly and willing to smile and make small talk with strangers as a form of public politeness. Almost to the point of being over familiar and can come across as superficial.
Russians (again this is stereotyped) would think any stranger smiling at them is someone not to be trusted because they want something from you. But if you spend a lot of time around one, get to know them, I’ve been told they are very welcoming.
The reasons why? Vastly different cultural values and societies that reflect those values.
I could go on with more examples but this comment is long enough.
I’m not american either. Sorry I forgot to imply that this was just the way it seemed to me. I didn’t really have the social aspect in mind and I know very well that they are culturally nothing alike. The similarities I was refering to were the imperialistic tendencies, that in the US seem to be out of control of the elected government (this is an interesting example), and the exploitative, oligarchic mode of capitalism that has grown into the state that seems to be growing under both (although it is not called oligarchy in the US). But it is true that the US still has the rule of law and functioning separation of powers.
But it is true that the US still has the rule of law and functioning separation of powers.
No, we actually kind of don’t anymore. Have you been paying attention to the SCOTUS or places like Florida and Texas?
Your examples are extremely weird, friend. When comparing and contrasting countries, how about focusing on politics? The USA is an imperialist oligarchy with a giant, globe-spanning military presence, dominating and exploiting economies under threat of violence and sanctions, while Russia is an irridentist oligarchy that can apply pressure on other countries through little more than it’s fairly large military force. If Russia had the same resources and trade-presence as the USA they would be almost identical. If you really want to talk about cultural values, they are generally the same. The average human being cares about peace, justice, love, joy, truth, freedom, beauty. The differences are political.
Хаха, нет, даже не близко
Libertarians are just Republicans that don’t want to say they’re Republicans, their stances are almost completely the same.
Better comic would be a frame of two republicans (use the lion from this comic) tearing part and eating America…say, Uncle Sam, just visceral and blood all over their mouths and claws. Second frame has that scene in the background with a third lion standing with another animal looking upon the carnage. The third lion saying “I’m not republican, I am a libertarian that leans right” while also having blood all over it’s mouth and claws.
Don’t let them fool you, libertarians are just Republicans who are too chicken shit to admit it and be open about it. They still side together on every issue, small government or not. I don’t see a difference between the two in their actions
Hey now, be fair, not all self described libertarians are just being dishonest about their political affiliations.
Some don’t know how anything works and call themselves libertarian because they think it sounds cool.
They still side together on every issue
So you think that Libertarians believe drugs should be illegal, the government should ban abortion, books, and gay rights, and tons of money should be spent on military budgets and corporate subsidies? That’s like the opposite of Libertarianism. But you’re right, there are a lot of Republicans who incorrectly call themselves libertarian.
Republicans run on the campaign that government doesn’t work, and once they are in power they prove it.
It’s weird seeing American “libertarians”. In Australia, the Liberal Democrat Party were the first to support same sex marriage and drug decriminalisation (even before the far-left Greens) and have long supported peoples right to decide for themselves on euthanasia and abortion. They’ve been the only voice against the governments overreach on internet filtering and their power to secretly force companies to write backdoors into their software. So basically the opposite of American “libertarians”.
After winning some seats about 8-10 years ago, the major parties realised they could marginalise the LDP on issues like gun control, which most Australians know nothing about but support with blind enthusiasm anyway. So we’re back to the stats-quo of 4 parties, Lib/Nat vs Labor/Greens.
Libertarianism in the US is all about personal liberty, basically about being able to do whatever they want and fuck anyone else’s needs or desires.
So they’re just Republicans by a different name then
Nah, if you don’t directly bother them they mostly just don’t give a fuck. True-red republicans find pleasure in fucking over other people in new and disgusting ways.
It’s a minor difference, but it’s important to libertarians. Because it’s the one way they try and distance themselves from other conservatives.
A libertarian is just a republican who knows that admitting who they align with is socially dangerous. You would think that makes them better in some way but in fact it makes them worse. Many republicans don’t know they are absolute garbage. Libertarians know they are garbage but still choose to be garbage.
Similar thing with the Lib Dems here in the UK. More socially progressive than Labour, and in theory “centrist” on economics but were also arguably more progressive than even Corbyns Labour. Then as soon as they won a decent amount of seats both the right and left wing media dragged them through the mud to stop them being a threat to the 2 party system that theve invested tons of money into controlling.
American libertarians will say they support things like gay rights and drug decriminalization but they will never actually vote in a way that creates change. They will vote for the Republican that claims to want small government but does nothing to further that ideology. Even if that politician is actively fighting against other causes that libertarians claim to give a damn about.
Used to call myself Libertarian at one point. Then I grew up and realized most “Libertarians” are a group of morons who would get eaten by the wealthy if the world suddenly switched over to their ideal “Libertarian” society. You think the gap is bad between the rich and poor now? Let “Libertarian” ideals run amok for a decade…
I do think libertarianism has some principles and concepts that are valuable, I would have even called myself libertarian-ish at certain points, but over the years it’s fallen into a similar bucket as communism from my perspective.
It’s an attractive system until you start introducing the people.
I did call myself a libertarian at a certain point. Then I realized it’s trash. The political philosophy itself is stupid.
“Liberty is the most fundamental right.” Why? Who says? Why not…idk, caring for others and being cared for in return?
It’s an ideology of selfishness fundamentally. And it only makes sense that it was started by a bunch of selfish rich assholes, the same people who champion it now.
I can’t speak for everyone but I don’t see much out there that gives me the ground to tell someone else how to live their life. So until it affects me or someone else, I have a hard time justifying violence, which is where the “live and let live” thing comes from.
I think that gets a lot of people in the door, and then the reality gets messy. But I don’t think that central principle is trash. And the first part of caring for someone else is recognizing their rights as an individual. It’s why the party was the first to include marriage equality explicitly as part of their platform nearly four decades before democrats. When democratic presidents and presidential candidates were pushing DOMA, libertarians had had as a tent pole for decades already. And that is the fundamental difference: it’s not good enough to have a government that agrees good things are good, they can change their mind and have a bad track record. The libertarian view is that it ought to be a high-bar for anyone to presume the ability to intrude on what’s your business alone.
So yes, there’s a lot of mess where the rubber meets the road, but there’s a lot of good there. A lot of people eventually realize as nice and simple as what I just said above is, there’s very precious little in this world that is exclusively “your business alone”. Still, the principles a good enough starting point, and you’ll find a lot of people are pretty open to things if they’re a net positive and applied equitably. You’ll find a lot of libertarians that are way more opposed to subsidizing the likes of lockheed martin than they are about medicare for all or food stamps. Hell, there are people that still consider themselves libertarians who are proponents of UBI.
I had hoped the party would siphon off some of the more reasonable republicans rather than catch the crazy itself. Sadly that’s not how it played out. Add that to the crazies (“age of consent is a violation of my rights!”), and I 100% get your take. But man… I don’t know about you but I’d sleep much better in a Garry Johnson/Biden election than a DeSantis/Biden election.
It’s the sort of thing that people think they are until they look around and it’s just people who don’t want to pay taxes, and by extension believe that poor people deserve to die.
Republicans are just libertarians who’ve realised they can weaponise the crazies to win elections.
Libertarianism is a very wide spectrum and isn’t really nailed down to a single ideology. There’s forms of socialism, capitalism, and communism with libertarian counterparts.
I don’t really say this outloud because people get the wrong idea but I consider myself a libertarian, but I do not associate with any party (especially not the de facto american libertarian party)
My beliefs are this:
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You should be free to do as you wish that does not impede on the freedoms of others. For instance, you should be free to use substances as you wish, but you shouldn’t be free to operate a motor vehicle or heavy machinery under the influence because it is dangerous and could injure or kill someone, therefore impeding their freedoms.
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The government should have minimal involvement in regulating the people, and the people themselves play a role in governing the country. Get rid of the electoral college, popular vote should be the way to win elections.
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I have absolutely nothing against taxes, but I think the people should have a choice on where their tax dollars go on an individual level. Everyone gets a budget set accordingly to their income, and the individual chooses (at least a percentage) of where their tax dollars go. Every year when tax time comes, you record this to be audited. This way the government can still allocate funds where needed, but they can’t overinflate anything’s budget without the approval of the people, or vice versa. BTW, no tax cuts for “charitable donations”, if you truly wish to be charitable, then you can donate along with your taxes :).
This is unironically the best approach in my opinion. Not looking to start a debate or anything, just thought I’d give my .02. I know the system may not be perfect, but no system is.
There’s forms of socialism, capitalism, and communism with libertarian counterparts.
Hey hey! I’m partial to libertarian socialism myself, which is really just anarchist-lite.
You should be free to do as you wish that does not impede on the freedoms of others.
This sounds nice, but practically it’s impossible. Like, quite literally impossible. You can barely drive the car you want without affecting other people indirectly (thanks climate change)! My solution is that you’re only as free as the next person. It’s fine if you transgress against others if it’s equally fine that others can transgress against you. So, it’s probably fine to demand that people care about you if you also extend your caring for them (with the understanding that they are not obligated to reciprocate). It’s complicated, but it’s certainly better than the non-harm principle.
It’s fine if you transgress against others if it’s equally fine that others can transgress against you.
This is an incredibly selfish statement. No, it is not okay to force your will upon other people against theirs, which is essentially what transgression is, regardless of their ability to do the same to you. Respect people’s liberty to be free of your impositions.
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Things aren’t just black and white and I wish people didn’t feel like they had to pick teams. I lean towards liberalism/socialism when it comes to social issues but I lean more libertarian when it comes to economic issues.
The ol’ socially liberal, fiscally conservative position which makes absolutely no sense. You can’t have social issues solved with no money. Austerity affects homos and heteros a like.
Again dude, it’s not black and white. Even when it comes to economic values, I think some traits from both capitalism and socialism are good. It’s a matter of knowing ur options and when to best execute them. Unfortunately we got a lot of blind hating blind.
And unfortunately it has been co-opted by the right, like so many other things. They claimed the banner, and fly the flag, while embodying none of the beliefs. If you say you’re a libertarian in America, people automatically assume you’re Alt-Right, despite the fact that Noam Chomsky is a libertarian, or more accurately a libertarian socialist, or an anarcho-syndicalist.
What’s chomsky’s solution for bears?
Libertarianism is the ideology of the childish and selfish, it is the ideology of putting oneself and one’s own interests before everything else, just dressed up in pretty words about “liberty”.
A nice word that Rothbart stole from Anarchists to use for his capital-Feudalism
It makes me a sad left a libertarian/anarchist.
Anarchism has the same individualist liberal basis as “regular” capitalism. An anarchist commune will always transform either to regular capitalism (pre-imperialist capitalism) or socialism.
Anarchism can mean socialism without tyrannical central authority.
“Finnish Nationalist.”
Such “socialism” will simply degenerate back into capitalism as it cannot eliminate the markets, as it cannot have a planned economy. Markets always lead to competition, which leads to consolidation and accumulation.
I kept misreading it as librarians which really confused me xD
The funniest part of this is the part where we assume libertarians are being honest and acting in good faith
Libertarians are just Republicans who are embarrassed to admit it.
I’m just going to post this article every time a libertarian post makes it to the front page now. Yes, libertarian taking over a New Hampshire town only to get overrun by feral bears will never stop being funny.
https://newrepublic.com/article/159662/libertarian-walks-into-bear-book-review-free-town-project
The panda-rabbit should be a leopard.
Shame on anyone who fully has trust in Republicans to do the right things.
They have proven, time and time again, that any government that isn’t their own isn’t “working” for the country. Because why? Because their reasoning is - “we’re not the ones in complete power”.
And from the times that they did have power, they go on power drunk crusades that sets the country back further and further.
Libertarians are just Republicans wearing silly hats.
elites rather
