January 2, 2012

The appeal of libertarianism?

It really confuses me, and I suspect there are a few here who see more benefit from libertarian thought than I do. I tend to agree with this Kos diary. I can see no way that a truly small government works. At least with any kind of complex economy and with an assumption that a middle class is a positive thing.

2 comments:

steves said...

I think they raise some good points and I think most Libertarians are very consistent when it comes to supporting fundamental civil rights. Where they fall apart, IMO, is when they start talking about smaller government as it was in the "good old days." Truthfully, it has never been the way they thought and I doubt it could ever work as well as they think.

Streak said...

I agree, Steve. They have been more consistent on civil rights--though Ron Paul and his son's stance on personal liberty seems to value personal freedom even when it includes being openly racist and discriminatory.

But a big part of the libertarian appeal is this idea that we could get rid of much of our government and things would be fine. I don't see that.