1997-12-05 - Re: Censorial leftists (Was: Interesting article)

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From: Duncan Frissell <frissell@panix.com>
To: jim.burnes@ssds.com>
Message Hash: 9d0c0064c64d5ca06443d8a7ca4db7faf489af5e056cc8126cffe7df7a9efd47
Message ID: <3.0.2.32.19971205152745.036de494@panix.com>
Reply To: <Pine.LNX.3.95.971204135130.369D-100000@is-chief>
UTC Datetime: 1997-12-05 20:40:51 UTC
Raw Date: Sat, 6 Dec 1997 04:40:51 +0800

Raw message

From: Duncan Frissell <frissell@panix.com>
Date: Sat, 6 Dec 1997 04:40:51 +0800
To: jim.burnes@ssds.com>
Subject: Re: Censorial leftists (Was: Interesting article)
In-Reply-To: <Pine.LNX.3.95.971204135130.369D-100000@is-chief>
Message-ID: <3.0.2.32.19971205152745.036de494@panix.com>
MIME-Version: 1.0
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At 02:42 PM 12/5/97 GMT, Paul Spirito wrote:

>Seriously, I've never lived in Sweden or Singapore -- if I do, I'll get back
>to the list on which I prefer -- but I'm troubled by the tendency of
>Libertarians to err on the side of big business fetishism rather than civil
>liberties. Both are part of the Doctrine, of course*, but I often hear them
>argue that wild-west capitalism inevitably leads to political freedom -- so,
>not to worry -- but rarely that political freedom invariably leads to
>laissez-faire capitalism (so, not to worry). 

That's because it doesn't.  And there is a difference between "political 
rights" and liberty.  I care about the latter and not the former.  Plenty of 
tyrannical democracies.  I judge governments by how much they leave me alone 
not by their form.

>You might say that the latter is NOT TRUE. Well, right-o, but neither is the
>former. Economic progress under a fascist regime leads inevitably to
>political freedom? You guys actually make this argument. 

Certainly today's economic and technological freedom gives individuals vast 
money and vast power.  This increases their ability to tell their governments 
to go fuck themselves.  Whether they will choose to exercise this power, they 
certainly have it.

>*Yes, Libertarians criticize corporate welfare, but just because it corrupts
>the notion that a person's entire worth can be summarized in a stock
>portfolio.

No they criticize it because they don't like to *pay* for it.  They believe 
in lower taxes and smaller governments.

DCF
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