I don’t know anything about Dennis Pratt or the people running the New Hampshire Libertarian party. I do know that there are a few libertarians who have the notion, absurd for those who believes in liberty and individual rights, that things would have been better if the Confederacy had won the Civil War. The idea usually is that since …
I don’t know anything about Dennis Pratt or the people running the New Hampshire Libertarian party. I do know that there are a few libertarians who have the notion, absurd for those who believes in liberty and individual rights, that things would have been better if the Confederacy had won the Civil War. The idea usually is that since the present federal government is too large, too powerful, and too hostile to freedom, and since the union Lincoln saved has become that federal government, a confederate victory would have prevented that development. (They sometimes also throw in some complaints about Lincoln’s alleged overly harsh behavior toward the traitors.) The first error here is that the conclusion does not follow from the premises. No one can know what a confederate victory would have meant for the future development of government in a defeated or stalemated Union. The second and far worse error is that even if the conclusion were to be accepted, it would be irrelevant to the question of who was right and who was wrong in the Civil War. The confederates rebelled to preserve slavery and said so at the time. The Union was right and the Confederacy was profoundly, inexcusably wrong. It would be charitable to say that the self-labeled libertarians who do not see this are only confused, thoughtless and/or poorly informed about history. A less charitable but fair reaction would be skepticism of their understanding of and commitment to liberty and at least questions about their ideas on race.
Quite often actually. Libertarians believe in freedom and individual rights in economic and non-economic aspects of life. That distinguishes them from those on the left and right who prefer to persuade others to see and do things their way at gunpoint., all with the highest moral motives to be sure.
That is a fantasy. Even in a functioning libertarian society, assuming such a thing was possible, there would be contracts and obligations and people who didn't follow the law would be coerced to get in line, and eventually the guns would come out.
I don’t know anything about Dennis Pratt or the people running the New Hampshire Libertarian party. I do know that there are a few libertarians who have the notion, absurd for those who believes in liberty and individual rights, that things would have been better if the Confederacy had won the Civil War. The idea usually is that since the present federal government is too large, too powerful, and too hostile to freedom, and since the union Lincoln saved has become that federal government, a confederate victory would have prevented that development. (They sometimes also throw in some complaints about Lincoln’s alleged overly harsh behavior toward the traitors.) The first error here is that the conclusion does not follow from the premises. No one can know what a confederate victory would have meant for the future development of government in a defeated or stalemated Union. The second and far worse error is that even if the conclusion were to be accepted, it would be irrelevant to the question of who was right and who was wrong in the Civil War. The confederates rebelled to preserve slavery and said so at the time. The Union was right and the Confederacy was profoundly, inexcusably wrong. It would be charitable to say that the self-labeled libertarians who do not see this are only confused, thoughtless and/or poorly informed about history. A less charitable but fair reaction would be skepticism of their understanding of and commitment to liberty and at least questions about their ideas on race.
Libertarians are morally defective people.
When was the last time you read a libertarian reference to "freedom" that didn't have "economic" in front of it?
Quite often actually. Libertarians believe in freedom and individual rights in economic and non-economic aspects of life. That distinguishes them from those on the left and right who prefer to persuade others to see and do things their way at gunpoint., all with the highest moral motives to be sure.
That is a fantasy. Even in a functioning libertarian society, assuming such a thing was possible, there would be contracts and obligations and people who didn't follow the law would be coerced to get in line, and eventually the guns would come out.