Question for 3rd way/Libertarians: How can anyone be free, if everything is privatized? (Expanded)

[grahamhgreen]

Last edited Mon Nov 10, 2014, 12:56 PM - Edit history (3)

Seriously, how does that work?

If a child is born into a world and everything he sees or touches is the property of a private individual, or corporation, what is there to be free in?

Can he drink the water? No, it has been privatized, he must pay.
Can he sleep in the hospital? No, it has been privatized, he must pay.
Can he walk in the street? No, it has been privatized, he must pay.
Can he go to the forest and make wooden bowls for sale? No, it has been privatized, he must pay.
Can he sell goods by the side of the road? No, it has been privatized, he must pay.

Only in a world where there are many elements owned by all, can we exist as free individuals.

It seems to me that 3rd way/Libertarians are looking to create a world in which freedom itself is impossible, quite contrary to their stated love of freedom.

Any of you folks care to address?

[whereisjustice]

1. When everything is privatized - we will all be slaves. Our labor will be free. eom

[grahamhgreen]

4. We will beg to work.

[DetlefK]

2. There is a webcomic...

The storyline is in the post-apocalyptic frozen wasteland that followed the technological collapse of a corporate-ruled futuristic dystopia.

This futuristic dystopia is shown in flashbacks and one particular sentence from the early pages is seared into my brain: "Since the corporation has copyrighted sleep..."

And all wild plant-life on Earth was exterminated because they are "unsanctioned oxygen-producers". Of course, the corporation offers a good deal on air.




The webcomic is called "Romantically Apocalyptic".


The main characters are (SPOILERS) a brilliant lunatic who may or may not have accidentally caused the apocalypse, an alien assassin disguised as his cup that never runs out of coffee, a former tour-guide who just wants to stay out of trouble, an alien war-drone that accompanies the former tour-guide as a scarf, a lobotomized assassin whose last job was to kill the former tour-guide, a formerly powerful senior-scientist who got stalked by the AI he worked with, and several monsters and murderous AIs.

[grahamhgreen]

3. That's brilliant! Will check it out!

[hifiguy]

5. It will be absolute freedom for

the ownership class.

And the ownership class is the only class that counts in the eyes of the reichwingers, libertarian dingbats and the Turd Way.

Their ideal model has, from the start, been feudaliem, without even the obligations that feudal lords had.

[grahamhgreen]

6. Now you made me look up the legal definition of Freedom:

Blacks law dictionary:

FREEDOM

The state of being free; liberty; self-determination; absence of restraint; the opposite of slavery.

The power of acting, in the character of a moral personality, according to the dictates of the will, without other check, hindrance, or prohibition than such as may be imposed by just and necessary laws and the duties of social life.

The prevalence, in the government and constitution of a country, of such a system of laws and institutions as secure civil liberty to the individual citizen.

Then, Civil Liberty:

CIVIL LIBERTY?

the political freedom that is enjoyed by members of society that restrains its people as far as is necessary to maintain the general welfare of everyone.

So, even the oligarchs do not have freedom, per se, they can merely afford to purchase the appearance of freedom from other oligarchs. Should they become to poor to purchase such favors, their 'freedom' would be non-existent.

In other words, we can not confuse the purchase of favor, with the principle of freedom.