[ExI] Call To Libertarians

[David Lubkin]

Darren wrote:

>The other discussion had degenerated into rhetoric and even 
>name-calling and I thought I might find some reasoned arguments here 
>to help bring it back on track. Unfortunately, the same thing has 
>happened here, which is in itself an education of sorts. I'm as 
>guilty as the next guy, getting embroiled in this one the way I did 
>not get in the other. Perhaps it is because I'm more invested here.

I run an assortment of lists with the ground rules of civility and 
absence of hostility and a few whose membership overlaps with the 
former where nearly anything goes. On the civil lists, we've been 
able to productively discuss all sorts of precarious topics, by 
focusing on facts, rigor, and assuming good faith. Some choose to be 
on the civil lists only, some don't need no steenkin' rules. Among 
those on both, there are people like me, who are pretty much the same 
everywhere, and some who adapt -- jerks there, civil here.

>Aye, there's the rub, as Hamlet said.

I thought that was Berlusconi.

>There seemed to be no distinction between libertarian and 
>ultra-conservative. To them, they were one and the same.

"ultra-conservative" is an even-more meaningless term than 
conservative. (Especially when we're talking beyond the US. An 
American libertarian and a Brazilian libertarian have similar goals, 
policies, and beliefs. Consider what you're describing by a 
conservative in the PRC.)

And most libertarians I know detest being labeled conservative by the 
left or liberal by the right. There is, however, an interesting 
bifurcation. Some libertarians are more dismayed by the left and some 
are more dismayed by the right. When your guy isn't going to win an 
election, which of the other candidates appalls you least?


-- David.