[ExI] Usages of the term libertarianism

[Kelly Anderson]

On Wed, May 18, 2011 at 1:44 AM, BillK <pharos at gmail.com> wrote:
> On Wed, May 18, 2011 at 7:13 AM, Kelly Anderson  wrote:
> The US might feel like socialism to you but it is actually Corporate Fascism.
> <http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article7260.htm>
> Quote:
>
> "Fascism should more properly be called corporatism because it is the
> merger of state and corporate power." - Benito Mussolini.

I'm not in favor of fascism either. My overall view of life is that
the best things are generally done by the smallest organizations.
People in small groups are who really get things done. That's why a
small city counsel is likely to do better things than congress, with
much less money. It's why small entrepreneurial start-ups come up with
all the best ideas.

At one time I worked with a group that was associated with the
American Dental Association. They have a building in Chicago that is
about 20 stories tall. I attended a meeting in their board room. It
had about 10 very large flat screen televisions (at a time when they
were probably $7k a piece). It was covered in rare woods, and had a
huge oval table (with a big hole in the middle to see all the
televisions). Anyway, this room had recently been renovated at a cost
of around $750,000. Eight floors of the ADA were staffed by people
who's only job was to make sure that every dentist in America was a
dues paying member of the ADA. This was a seriously fucked
organization dedicated simply to making sure that the ADA didn't go
away. What does the ADA do? Well, not a whole lot. They lobby some,
they stand behind fluoride, they let standards organizations use their
board room, but they don't accomplish much. They are too big. Five of
the right guys with a good web site could do more for dentistry than
the ADA has done.

Tesla motors is going to kick the big three's butt, until they get big too.

Why do we keep putting up with these huge organizations that are so inefficient?

What can we do about it?

The biggest and by far the worst organization is of course the
government itself.

> While we Americans have been trained to keenly identify the opposite
> of fascism, i.e., government intrusion into and usurpation of private
> enterprise, we have not been trained to identify the usurpation of
> government by private enterprise. Our European cousins, on the other
> hand, having lived with Fascism in several European countries during
> the last century, know it when they see it, and looking over here,
> they are ringing the alarm bells. We need to learn how to recognize
> Fascism now.

The industrial-government complex is exactly what we need to avoid. A
libertarian government wouldn't be big enough for industry to
cooperate with very effectively.

> And, by the way, Greece is actually a very nice place to live,
> provided you are not poor.
> (But that applies to most countries).

I visited Greece for a couple of weeks. Had a great time. Wonderful
ruins. Great food. But their financial policy should not be emulated.
Of course, the United States is exactly, precisely emulating their
financial policy. Only we're too big to fail... :-P

-Kelly