[ExI] Usages of the term libertarianism

[Stefano Vaj]

On 14 June 2011 19:00, Damien Sullivan <phoenix at ugcs.caltech.edu> wrote:

> Well, the young don't vote much.  That's a pretty substantial
> self-handicap.
>

"Vote" is just but one, very limited, facet of political power. A strong
constituency, even when it is not simply revolutionary, influences the vote
of others, and/or obtain the right for itself, as proletarians, women and
18-years old did and immigrants are trying to do in some EU countries.

Also, don't make the mistake of blindly accepting Rafal's frame of "the
> rich elderly".  Most elderly aren't rich, and were even less so before
> national pension schemes.  Social Security wasn't invented because of
> elderly capture of politics.
>
> As for parasitic... they worked, they raised kids, they paid into the
> system, now they get some payback in their declining years.  Are parents
> being supported by their children parasitic?  Investors?  Landlords?
>

I have no qualms with the idea that one's contribution to a given community
is calculated not on a instantaneous basis, but on lifetime basis, and that
the community concerned may well take care of its members even when they are
non-productive at the moment.

But what we are discussing here is a possibly egemonic political power of
people whose role may be way less essential than that of others, to the
detriment of those same others.

Moreover, this extends today to people who not only do nothing now, but also
have never done anything. Not even managing their wealth (you can pay
consultants to do that for you).

And, yes, this makes for a conservative, myopic societal mindset where the
two main principles are "don't rock the boat" and "after us, the deluge".

-- 
Stefano Vaj
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