[ExI] Usages of the term libertarianism

[Natasha Vita-More]

BillK wrote:

On Fri, May 20, 2011 at 2:35 AM, Kelly Anderson  wrote:
<snip>
> To respond to your point more directly, the easily-led will not be 
> quite so easily led when there is more intelligence in the world, I 
> hope. If everyone had an intelligent agent to look after their 
> political interests, that would be an interesting game changer. Then 
> what was or was not on any particular news cast might have less 
> impact.

"On the other hand, from the glass half-empty perspective, at present it is
the most intelligent people in the world that are ruining the world economy
for their own personal gain (measured in money and power).

"I don't see any direct link between greater intelligence and altruism /
benevolence.
Quite the opposite so far in human history."

And the populous?  How many people in the United States unethically take
from the pool of debt of the country?  How many people are on unemployment,
welfare, food stamps, disability that can work at any one of the jobs
available?  Many. Many.

A man just won the lottery, but still is on food stamps because it is part
of his cultural upbringing - an upbringing that feeds people with a sense of
entitlement:
<http://www.freep.com/article/20110517/NEWS06/110517023/Michigan-man-still-f
ood-stamps-despite-winning-2M>


A woman told me her husband has been on unemployment for a very long time
and he does not look for work.  In fact, he spends his days working on his
motorcycle and working on his website.

I know someone on disability but also owns a store and manages it, does its
finances and travels freely to purchase products for the store.

I have a friend who is on social security, but works and a company and gets
paid under the table.

I am quite sure that most of us know of someone who is cheating tax payers.
Whether you are a libertarian or socialist, what is growing is a sense of
entitlement.

As far as I can tell, the term and premise of libertarianism is an
old-world, outdated model that never was widely accepted and was more an
well-meaning, intellectual's ideology than a workable solution, given its
strong resistence from the left. Nevertheless, why not develop a
contemporary model that is more consistent with the current climate?

Natasha