Libertarian Wet Dream! (FAO MTLR)

[Dr_Phibes]

Having heard about your plight with 'Party Hacks' and subsequent persecution, I've done a bit of research for you and found brilliant news. I've actually discovered a tax-free paradise awaiting any libertarian who cares to travel a little: Somalia!



That's right! Located in picturesque East Africa and caressed by the warm waters of the Indian Ocean. Lovely stuff!



Seeing as Somalia has no functioning government, there's no one to steal your hard-earned dollars!

I've also taken the liberty of compiling a few travel tips:

- With no public health system or sanitation in Somalia, malaria, tuberculosis, tetanus and leprosy may become a problem for even the tidiest libertarian.

- Feel like a swim? Try the Indian Ocean. There is one minor concern: Since Somalia has no tax-supported Navy to patrol its shoreline, foreign ships routinely dump toxic waste into the coastal waters.

- Remember to take along a powerful radio since the public telecommunications system was completely destroyed during the last civil war. If another freedom lover, (or bandit) liberates your powerful radio, you can currently make international connections from the capitol, Mogadishu, by satellite.

- When you visit Mogadishu to send your message, plan on doing some walking. According to the UNs website, 'No car, no bus, no heavily armed jeep can make its way through this Mogadishu road block: only goats and pedestrians attempt to climb the huge mound of rubbish—a solid mass.'

So there you go. A country about the size of Texas where you can roam free! Free from the Nanny-State, police, paramedics, telephones, museums, schools, clean water, libraries, hospitals, sanitation, old-age and most of all — free from taxes! Bon voyage, you lucky libertarian and don't forget to write. Oops! I forgot. there are no post offices, either.

[Mike the Lab Rat]

Free from the Nanny-State, police, paramedics, telephones, museums, schools, clean water, libraries, hospitals, sanitation, old-age and most of all — free from taxes! Bon voyage, you lucky libertarian and don't forget to write. Oops! I forgot. there are no post offices, either.

Nice straw man you propped up there.

At no point have I ever espoused the view that all government services should be abolished, along with all taxes. I, like most libertarians, merely believe that government -especially federal government- has taken on too many functions best left to local or private control. For example, there's no reason for federal oversight of education (state control is fine, so abolish the Dept. of Ed.), federal funding of artists, or business/farm subsidies.

Additionally, your arguments make no sense. Lack of government running them does not abolish telephones, hospitals, paramedics, museums, etc. My former employer, the University of Rochester, was a wholly private entity that happens to run TWO hospitals.

But feel free to misrepresent my views and those of other libertarians as you see fit. It's not like socialists are known for accuracy...

[Dr_Phibes]

Hmm. Not the answer I expected - I assumed you to be more of a purist.

And a strange attitude from an upstate New Yorker, a dismal place where state run services such as the fire department, police department and school closings are commonplace.

It seems to me that people like you ignore the ample historical evidence that capital conglomeration and monopoly is inevitable under capitalism (in fact it is part and parcel of the capitalist system), as is the eventual control that these megacorporations exert on instruments of the state as well as cultural institutions.

But seeing as I've got you here, I've a question. What is the Libertarian position on 'time travel'? I know it seems out there at first, but so did almost every technological advance.

So should government regulate it?

Also who owns time and would the freedom to exercise time travel, impede on liberty? Since humans are social, the slightest alteration (if I went back in time to tell myself not to speak to person x) will alter Person X's life, without his/her consent.

[Mike the Lab Rat]

Hmm. Not the answer I expected - I assumed you to be more of a purist.

"Purist?" No, the word you're looking for is "zealot."

And I'm not one of those.

Anyone who slavishly follows the 'party line' -regardless of whether it's Republican, Democrat, Libertarian, Socialist- is a frigging moron. And anyone who honestly believes that their system, in a pure form, is the ONLY way, is a brainwashed lout.

And a strange attitude from an upstate New Yorker, a dismal place where state run services such as the fire department, police department and school closings are commonplace.

You're thinking of Buffalo. My county, Livingston, is just fine, and our town and village are actually expanding, businesses are doing fine...

It seems to me that people like you

First off, what's THAT supposed to mean? You don't know me and obviously haven't been paying much attention to my actual statements if you thought for a second that I've ever advocated the complete dismantling of public services.

Nice try, though...

ignore the ample historical evidence that capital conglomeration and monopoly is inevitable under capitalism (in fact it is part and parcel of the capitalist system), as is the eventual control that these megacorporations exert on instruments of the state as well as cultural institutions.

I find it quite funny that an avowed socialist is claiming that a libertarian is "ignor[ing] ample historical evidence." As I recall, socialist states aren't exactly a rousing success, and you've just gotta love the complete repression of freedom in socialist utopias like North Korea, Red China, and Cuba.

But seeing as I've got you here, I've a question. What is the Libertarian position on 'time travel'?

That it's physically impossible and therefore not worth debating as a political point.

I know it seems out there at first, but so did almost every technological advance.

Tell ya what....give me the Jetsons' flying car, lightsabers, or even faster-than-light travel and then we'll talk.

[Dr_Phibes]

Well, you have my sincere apologies if you're simply a mild reformist.

I took you to be a dyed in the wool 'sell it if it's not nailed down' libertarian by your postings accusing the American Supreme Court of being 'Marxists' - as well as the old and hole ridden 'let's turn back the clock and pretend it's 1787' nostalgia routine that Libertarians seem to frequently indulge in.

(and by the way of interesting tax free trivia- North Korea became the first tax-free nation in 1974!)

[tough love]

BEIJING, China (UPI) -- North Korea agreed to abandon all nuclear weapons and existing nuclear programs in exchange for oil and energy in a deal signed Monday in Beijing.

In an agreement signed by all parties to the six-nation talks, Pyongyang also agreed to return to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons and to accept International Atomic Energy Agency inspectors, China`s Xinhua news agency reported.

In return, the United States, Russia, China, Japan and South Korea will provide energy assistance to North Korea and look for bilateral trade and investment opportunities. South Korea reaffirmed its July offer of 2 million kilowatts of electricity to the North.

http://news.monstersandcritics.com/asia ... r_programs

N_K Tard played a good game.

[Dr_Phibes]

The DPRK hasn't agreed to anything. The situation is the same as was last week, the talks are meaningless. It's just another 'purple finger' style - feel good article.

[titlover]

Free from the Nanny-State, police, paramedics, telephones, museums, schools, clean water, libraries, hospitals, sanitation, old-age and most of all — free from taxes! Bon voyage, you lucky libertarian and don't forget to write. Oops! I forgot. there are no post offices, either.

Nice straw man you propped up there.

At no point have I ever espoused the view that all government services should be abolished, along with all taxes. I, like most libertarians, merely believe that government -especially federal government- has taken on too many functions best left to local or private control. For example, there's no reason for federal oversight of education (state control is fine, so abolish the Dept. of Ed.), federal funding of artists, or business/farm subsidies.

Additionally, your arguments make no sense. Lack of government running them does not abolish telephones, hospitals, paramedics, museums, etc. My former employer, the University of Rochester, was a wholly private entity that happens to run TWO hospitals.

But feel free to misrepresent my views and those of other libertarians as you see fit. It's not like socialists are known for accuracy...

you mean you actually want to abide by the Constitution word for word?

unthinkable!