Here’s the latest reader question, along with my reply!
John writes: I think I’m well grounded in my understanding of many matters. The left and right both trying to assert that their way is the right way. Maybe climate change is not man made, but there is some change happening. Yes, I know some may take the opportunity to take what is happening naturally to gain something, but we should be trying to figure out how to make our current resources last as long as they can, I do think about my kids. It seems business just what to turn a quarterly profit to get the bonus and is not always looking to the future. Our company recently installed solar panels; yes, I know it takes oil to make panels. I get it. But there is something to be said about using oil to make the panels that will in the long run save us energy. We should try to conserve and think about the future. We should applaud California trying to get 50 MPG and would love to see everyone seeing the saving in energy that we are seeing.
My reply: You say “we” – but really mean you – and those who believe as you do. What if we don’t share your beliefs?
Libertarians – that’s me – differ from the left and right in that we believe “the right way” is fundamentally an individual determination and every individual has the same right as any other to make his own decisions, in the absence of a demonstrable (objective) harm to others (actual people, not “society,” as that is a rhetorical device and not flesh and blood people).
I’m not opposed to either solar panels or 50 MPG cars. I am, however, opposed to mandates requiring them – and punishing people for not sharing the same view about the merits of either.
There’s an old – and I think wise – saying: Good ideas don’t require force. If solar panels make sense – if they save people money vs. paying for grid power – then people will buy solar panels, no need to force them to do so.
And there are already 50 MPG cars on the market. The people who want them are free to buy them.
I just oppose forcing everyone to buy them – and to pay extra for them – which is what California is hoping to do.
. . .
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Caring about the fuuuuuuture is an odd concept anyway. I know I won’t care about one damn thing after I’m dead. Because I’ll be dead. I don’t expect our current resources to be tapped before my demise, so I. DONT. CARE. Looking into the fuuuuuuture is as retarded as looking into the paaaaaaast. Collective mentality vs. individual. If we spent more effort being individuals, then we’d all be better people and have a better world to in which to live. Climate crisis my balls. We haven’t been keeping track of weather for long enough to accurately measure trends, so I don’t buy it.
They’ve been talking about the climate before my parents even made me, and it’s still the tired old stale hysterical cries.
Only climate I care about is my house, and how cold it is. Those hippies and libtards will be damned if they try to f*** with my thermostat.
Also, only reason I run high flow cats instead of going catless is I don’t wanna pay $300 every few years on emissions, rather be one and done, otherwise my vehicles be spitting flames
And that’s the problem with pure libertarianism. I used to think that way too when I was 15 but now I realize that I’m not the only thing in the universe that matters.
Caring about your family and your nation is actually very natural, and was normal for most of human history. There’s a healthy balance to be had between pure individualism and blind collectivism.
That said, global warming is still bullshit.
We’re only animals. Try to take the caught bird asshole from a house cat, and see how much he cares about your future. People nurture children only in the hopes that they’ll handle your needs when you get too old to do so. This is fear. Fear of death, of what might be next, based on superstition. People only hope their offspring do well to serve their own needs. Selfishness is evolutionarily correct. Corral each other for the strongest person’s benefit. Serve me, I’ll protect you. But if one protects himself, there’s no need to serve. Use energy to protect oneself, one may have extra energy to serve others. But it isn’t wrong not to. Ask a house cat, and that bird’s asshole.
Hi Anon,
Mind reading is as noxious when done by “us” as when done by virtue signaling SJW’s. You cannot know why people nurture their children or care about their future. Blanket assertions like this, “People nurture children ONLY in the hopes that they’ll handle your needs when you get too old to do so” are just unprovable opinions. Of course, at some level, all of our actions are selfish due to physical reality. We exist as individuals, in a closed body. We cannot interact with the world outside of that constraint. However, the fact that every act is “selfish” tells us nothing about the desires, motives or intentions of those performing those acts.
Cheers,
Jeremy
Hi WF,
“Caring about your family and your nation is actually very natural, and was normal for most of human history. There’s a healthy balance to be had between pure individualism and blind collectivism”.
Other than “blind collectivism”, nothing above is in any way incompatible with “pure libertarianism”. Even “collectivism”, as long as it’s not imposed by an aggressive, coercive entity, is fully compatible with “pure libertarianism”.
Seems like you imbibed the “atomisitic individual”, selfish, every man for himself caricature of libertarianism peddled by people who either don’t understand it or intentionally misrepresent it in order to conceal their lust for power and control. Please note, I am not saying that you are one of those people, it just frustrates me that this caricature persists.
Cheers,
Jeremy
Hi WF,
Another thought, I know that you were responding to anon’s comment but you specifically linked those views to “pure libertarianism”. Not only are such views not the necessary outcome of “pure libertarianism”, the implications of such views, or at least those logically compatible with them, are flatly incompatible with “pure libertarian” theory.
Suppose I wish to improve my material lot in life and I have an opportunity to kill someone and take his stuff. A purely selfish and rational calculation would be to weigh the risk of getting caught and punished vs the benefit of getting his stuff. If I conclude that my chance of getting caught is tiny or non-existent, then the rational choice would be to kill him and take his stuff. This act is logically consistent with some of the views expressed by anon. However, “pure libertarian” theory precludes this act.
Note to anon, I am not saying that you hold this extreme view, only that it is not precluded by the views you expressed, or at least my interpretation of their implications.
Jeremy
Thanks for the clarification. Perhaps “pure libertarianism” was the wrong phrase. I think “hyper individualism” is more what I was talking about.
Hi WF,
Thanks for the comment, I appreciate that you took mine in the spirit it was intended.
Cheers,
Jeremy
Maybe, still that pet kitty will eat your eyeballs out when you die. If I’m able to sustain, maybe I’ll have space and provisions for more. Maybe not. This is why educating ourselves is paramount. Test wit And body. If you question yourself, you fail. Only you know if you have/can do enough. Depend on someone to tell you? You’ve already failed.
Hi WF,
I actually went from vague Liberalism as a young teenager to conservatism in high school that segued into Libertarianism.
I’m not sure why you believe Libertarians think they are the only thing in the universe that matters. Far from it. The foundational premise of Libertarian morality (and ethics) is that everyone matters. One of the things which attracted me to Libertarianism is that it espouses deep respect for the equal rights of others – and demands accountability from individuals but also frees them from being chained to collectives.
I came to libertarianism from two angles.
1) The local CBS channel had real news reporting on local government corruption in the late 1970s and first half of the 1980s.
2) Brock Yates and the rest of the staff at C&D in the 1980s.
The effect of this was delayed. Like a planted seed. If you listen to the Jimmy Dore Show on youtube (another Chicago south sider) that’s where I was a long time ago. But at some point I realized that there are no right people. There is no right government. There is no way to successfully central manage any large thing for the long haul.
The only way to do things is to maximize liberty. Much of this realization came from tracing problems to their root causes. At the root of problems I found control freaks using government to shape society, the economy, etc to the way they wanted it to be. This can’t be solved with another control freak or group there of trying the same processes.
Hi Brent,
“At the root of problems I found control freaks using government to shape society, the economy, etc to the way they wanted it to be. This can’t be solved with another control freak or group there of trying the same processes.”
“Plans differ, planners are all alike.”
Frederic Bastiat
Cheers,
Jeremy
I’ve never been concerned about the environment, it’s a joke issue the left forces people to care about, just like other issues we’re forced to care about
George Carlin talked about it, there’s been meteors and disasters way before the industrial age, so the planet is fine no matter what we do