Confessions of a recovering Libertarian: How I escaped a world of Ron Paul hero worship

[Rassah]

66. *sigh* Simplified caricatures, nothing more.

I could oversimplify things just as easily:

Democracy: Because restaurants that kill people while not observing health code standards will eventually be closed down by the FDA - that will teach 'em!

Democracy: Because minimum acceptable poop levels in your beef from regulated slaughter houses should be defined as legal and acceptable by the FDA

Democracy: Because getting equal treatment under the law is always better when you let a majority vote on who should have what rights, based on their skin color or whom they have sex with

Democracy: Because everyone should be forced to work for the same employer, even if their job sucks, because they can't lose their health coverage or sell their house

Obviously these are just as silly oversimplified caricatures, but at least I know enough to recognize them as such. And FYI, I have lost my job many times, have been nearly homeless, and my family has had to deal with cancer and mortality quite a few times (including having to send $60k of our own borrowed money to someone who lived in a country with universal healthcare, because safety nets can fail). But no, my only reason for drifting towards that was because the idea of creating a system that gives people a monopoly on power (even temporarily), and then assuming that only good people will gravitate towards such a system, seems nuts, especially if history is an indicator. Maybe some day I will grow up and learn that such a system really does only attract good, caring people without greedy self-interests