"Libertarians are like house cats....

[lastlib]

They are convinced of their fierce independence, while utterly dependent on a system they don't appreciate or understand." --John Spaulding

Posted by request.

[Dem4life1234]

1. House cats can be sweet though

[lastlib]

2. Point taken.

Libertarians certainly aren't! The comparison isn't exact.

[Hugin]

5. What remains unsaid...

Is that cats can tell their food dish from a litter box.

[lastlib]

6. Excellent point!!

[Permanut]

3. And they're condemned to be old maids,..

and wear bad hats, like Mary Bailey in "it's a Wonderful Life".

[BaronChocula]

13. And when they jump off bridges

angels are like, "Meh."

[littlemissmartypants]

17. And...

They shouldn't have used the bridge that they probably didn't build.

[lindysalsagal]

4. I met one recently: middle aged man who was in the military and now teaches science in a public school.

No doubt he'll take his social security and medicare when it's time. Idiot.

[getagrip_already]

7. Dont forget his school pension and health plan

Teachers can get both with 10- 20 years once retired.

[Freddie]

8. Depends on the state

Pennsylvania teachers don’t get health care with retirement. They can COBRA (pay full price) until they turn 65.
Regardless, MAGA teachers are full-on idiots. Boggles my mind how they can support a party that hates unions and public schools. Yet FAR too many teachers do.

[Probatim]

12. Ask my (former) brother-in-law.

Complete MAGAt who sued to get into the teacher's union - all the while disparaging teachers and unions and frivolous lawsuits.

His replacement is no smarter but I don't have to hear about "the homosexual agenda" at family gatherings. Although, I have wanted to ask him about same-day sex changes at his school for a few months.

[BaronChocula]

14. "That pension is my own individual socialism that I earned!" n/t

[Demobrat]

10. He paid in. That money is his.

He is entitled. Everyone else is a bum.

[Picaro]

9. I routinely sneer at "libertarians"

Their ideas don’t stand up to even cursory scrutiny.

They can never mount any real defense.

They put the dumb in freedumb.

[JoseBalow]

11. Libertarians

[PeaceWave]

15. Broad generalizations. There are many shades of libertarianism...

For instance, the government's tracking of internet activity attracts many people toward libertarianism. Does this make them bad people? I don't think so.

[Cirsium]

22. No there aren't

There aren't "many shades" of libertarianism. There is not even any coherent philosophy.

"The government's tracking of internet activity??" How about the tracking of internet activity by corporations? You are expressing a right wing point of view - against the evil government but silent on the predatory behavior by the people with the real power, the people in the corporate board rooms.

[PeaceWave]

23. I'm concerned about both. But, I'm more concerned about...

what a President like Trump could do with that info. That's not a "right wing point of view."

[Cirsium]

27. Obviously

Of course "being concerned about what a President like Trump could do with that info" is not a right wing point of view. Just as obviously, I didn't say any such thing.

The government more often than not protects the interests of private industry at the expense of the interests of the general public. The US militarily protects the interests of the owners of the plantations, sweat shops, mines and wells in countries around the world, where the workers are hideously exploited, the local government officials have been bought off, and the environment destroyed. The domestic police operate in a similar fashion or the same purpose - protecting "property" (the wealthy) from the "mob" (the people.) Similarly, governments promote "free trade" (wealthy people moving across borders to exploit workers and the environment) and suppress immigration (desperate workers seeking trying to survive.)

Why do we never hear any concern from "libertarians" about those dire threats to the lives and freedom of hundreds of millions of people?

[GP6971]

29. Hi Ralphie!! Can I call you Ralphie??

Pizza delivery on the way!!

[Cirsium]

31. I did like the user name

So nice to have "admirers." Not so nice to have stalkers, especially when they are trying to dox people. I like the user name - Ralph Chaplin. Ironically, Chaplin wrote "Solidarity For Ever."

Ralph Chaplin was an editor, author, poet, painter, songwriter, radical labor leader, organizer for the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), and fighter for freedom of speech. He counted among his friends many of the liberal leaders of America in the early years of the 20th Century. This included Scott Nearing, Roger Baldwin, founder of the American Civil Liberties Union, Carl Sandburg, and Eugene Debs. But, what does labor activism and Lombard have in common? At first glance, they don’t seem to be related to each other.

During this time Labor activists were often labeled as Bolsheviks or Communists and often depicted as radical people creating unrest. They also were frequently associated with certain cities in the Midwest like Chicago or Milwaukee where large numbers of immigrants lived and worked in brutal conditions. Lombard didn’t have large factories that would attract the attention of union organizers. It was a pretty quiet place, comprised of people with a variety of ethnic backgrounds, where everyone went about their routines.

After being arrested in 1917, under charges of the Federal Espionage Act because he spoke up for the working man and for immigrants who were being sent to Europe to fight for the United States in WWI. Chaplin was sentenced to 20 years in prison at Fort Leavenworth Military Prison in Kansas. While in prison, Chaplin wrote a book of poetry called Bars and Shadows. He was temporally released from prison in 1921, he and his wife Edith came to Lombard and bought the house at 215 E. Grove Street.

https://www.lombardhistory.org/blog/2021/12/18/ralph-chaplin-labor-activisim

[Torchlight]

30. Sounds serious.

Good luck!

[GoneOffShore]

16. I always go to Christopher Hitchens' take on Libertarians (Or as I call them 'Lie-bertarians')

“I have always found it quaint and rather touching that there is a movement [Libertarians] in the US that thinks Americans are not yet selfish enough.”
- Christopher Hitchens

[OldBaldy1701E]

18. I love it. (n/t)

[liberalla]

20. Yes, that is very good! and I'd never heard it before.

Thanks!

[ColoradoHoosier]

19. Libertarianism in a nutshell

I once was one, in my youth, and it was the steady accumulation of that 'appreciation and understanding' that prompted my to abandon it and become a Democrat.

[IbogaProject]

21. Boo

That totally insults house cats. House Cats are more able to survive on their own than any lazy "libertarian".

[Martin68]

25. True, but that's why it says "housecats."

[Martin68]

24. That's an excellent summation of the conservative libertarian stances which just amounts to feeling free to do

anything they want to, while relying on the government to prevent others from doing the same.

[4lbs]

26. I had a work colleague once who was a self-proclaimed Libertarian.

It was good that he was socially liberal, wanting the government out of our homes.

But then, he went off on taxes and government services.

That's where I hit him with his own logic, and made it really unreasonable.

"Umm.. so, if your house burns down, what happens?"

Him: "Well, I collect house insurance and buy a new house."

"Ok, who makes sure that your insurance company actually pays up, and doesn't just declare bankruptcy like in 'The Rainmaker' ? The Government of California. You know, the State Insurance Commissioner."

"Oh, and I guess you'll never call the police or fire department for any thing either. Because that is government."

"You'll also be throwing away your Driver's License because that was issued by the state DMV. You know --- Government. Going to drive around without a DL then eh? You should be meeting one of those police government agents real soon then."

"Tell them you are a Libertarian. That should save you from being arrested and jailed for driving without a license, and your vehicle impounded at a government lot."

"Also, I guess you won't be paying your water, sewer, trash or electric bills either, because those are government services regulated by various government entities. Can't have that now can we?"

"Also, when you buy your new home, after collecting that insurance money, you'll be going through a real estate agent and bank right? Who regulates them? The government. You know, the FDIC for banks and DRE for Real Estate Agents."

"Seems to me you hate government and taxes, but want to take as much from them as you can, without having to pay a dime."

He shut up and never mentioned it again.