Special Election - 6th Congressional District (ethnic, job, drive)

[primaltech]

Originally Posted by OuiOui

I'm not sure if most Libertarians would call you a Libertarian.

Because they're idiots, not because I'm not a Libertarian.

Opposition to government or anything related to government, is a completely different aim and goal, than trying to have a society that best maximizes personal liberty. Somehow those things became too associated.

Government banning marijuana is an affront to personal freedom, but a lot of other government actions and functions, are defenses and protections of our personal freedom against potential dangers to it.

And things like having a widespread and well-funded public education system, provide a foundation and bedrock that's absolutely critical for liberty to exist and thrive in a society.

We could eliminate almost every social program and keep 95% of our paycheck, sure, but that would make us less free than we are today. So that to me is an entirely different goal than libertarianism should be.

[tom77falcons]

Originally Posted by bUU

Oh look. Another Libertarian trying to claim that libertarianism isn't amoral. How cute.

It is pure selfishness masquerading as a political belief. They just hate paying any tax. Only the US has any amount of Libertarians. The rest of the developed world can't stomach them and as such they just don't exist or barely in any other developed nation.

[primaltech]

Originally Posted by tom77falcons

It is pure selfishness masquerading as a political belief.

Maybe the extremely wealthy "Libertarians" are selfish. But the non-rich ones are largely just plain misguided in most of their policy stances vs. their supposed goals and philosophy.

Fully-auto AK-47's everywhere with no background checks, a weak and powerless police and FBI and CIA, and a for-profit elementary school owned by Delta Air Lines or whatever, would all be detrimental to freedom.

[Hokiehaven]

Originally Posted by Cameron H

I know, I'm just saying I'd have a campaign event at my new home in the district a couple weeks before election day. "I told her, 'I want to support your endeavors, and she said, 'I want to support you, too, and I want to support this community.' So we started looking for a house."

This would be the wisest decision he could make, do it today, now, buy a condo or rent a place in the district.

[bUU]

Originally Posted by primaltech

Because they're idiots, not because I'm not a Libertarian.

If you fail to adequately defend your brand, you lose the rights to it. That's what has happened to you. You lost. They won. So you have two choices: Accept it and move on, or refuse to accept it and be continually and repeatedly misunderstood, mischaracterized, and pigeon-holed without recourse.

[primaltech]

Originally Posted by bUU

If you fail to adequately defend your brand, you lose the rights to it. That's what has happened to you. You lost. They won. So you have two choices: Accept it and move on, or refuse to accept it and be continually and repeatedly misunderstood, mischaracterized, and pigeon-holed without recourse.

Fine, well then I guess I'll take the label of "Liberal", which fits my general views, and which comes from the Latin liber ("free"). But liberty is such a core foundation principle to me and at the very center/starting point of my general political views, that it seems pretty stupid that I'm not a libertarian. Especially since I'm pro-capitalism and not a socialist.

Gary Johnson, flawed of a candidate as he was, still got 3.27% of the popular vote in November, which is no joke. If the LP just better applied the core principal of maximal liberty, they'd end up with more mainstream positions and would be a major party.

Liberty is both a negative and a positive concept. In order to maximize it, you have to not only be free from oppression/coercion in the negative sense, but also have a society structured to best allow all individuals to have and pursue a life of liberty. So, an environment of safety is part of that (balanced with privacy), access to participate in democracy is part of that, access to necessary education, access to necessary medicine, etc etc. It's all part of a package of personal and human freedom as found in Western liberal democracies.

[bUU]

Originally Posted by primaltech

Fine, well then I guess I'll take the label of "Liberal", which fits my general views, and which comes from the Latin liber ("free").

Baseless indignation doesn't keep you from losing. There's more of us calling ourselves liberals already than there are of you, and more importantly the vast majority of people who hate liberals won't care that you aren't like the 99.999% of people who are already labeled liberal.

Pick another word - one for which you and those who agree with you and are with you in picking the word are the majority of people using that label.

[primaltech]

Originally Posted by bUU

Baseless indignation doesn't keep you from losing. There's more of us calling ourselves liberals already than there are of you, and more importantly the vast majority of people who hate liberals won't care that you aren't like the 99.999% of people who are already labeled liberal.

Pick another word - one for which you and those who agree with you and are with you in picking the word are the majority of people using that label.

I still say I am a Liberal, even by modern definitions- because I value both liberty and equality, at least in that I see some degree/concept of the latter as being vitally important to the former. And I am a secularist.

Everything mentioned in here is in harmony with my views:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liberalism

So, if I'm not a Liberal, then that's pretty weird. I don't follow Liberalism to a conclusion of an end-ideal of Socialism as some might, but all Liberals are not Socialists.

It's just also weird that I'm not a Libertarian. I guess "Libertarianism" = a variant of American Conservatism. I just think that's unfortunate. Conservatism has its own strengths and qualities to it, but is ultimately based on a pillar of social tradition and social stability, and upper class rule/power, all of which most often run directly counter to personal/social/economic liberty.

Both Liberalism and Conservatism claim Liberty as a core value, and I'm in line with Liberalism on most things, so I'll just go with being a Liberal with a small handful of moderate/centrist/conservative views.

A moderate Liberal?

[Iconographer]

Originally Posted by bUU

Oh look. Another Libertarian trying to claim that libertarianism isn't amoral. How cute.

Oh, look another liberal that has nothing to bring to the table but invective and insults, having abandoned all sense of reason and rational thought.

[MikeHonchoATL]

Originally Posted by LovinDecatur

Really? I think she's attractive.
Frankly, I'd kill for a set like that.

Alisha Kramer, Jon Ossoff’s Girlfriend: 5 Fast Facts | Heavy.com

And, they went to my Alma Mater. I'm impressed.

Low standards. 4/10 at best