Can a Libertarian complain about "lawlessness" without being hypocritical?

[tblue]

I thought the whole idea behind Libertarianism was to do away with laws.

Rand Paul on OWS:
"..... this Paris mob that I hope doesn't result in a lawlessness where they say, 'Well, gosh, those nice iPads through the window should be mine and why don't I throw a brick through the window to get them because rich people don't deserve to have them when I can't have them.'"

http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/186311...

Okay, so SOME laws are necessary after all. It's just that Rand Paul gets to decide which must be followed and which must be overturned. Funny how that works.

[The Wielding Truth]

1. No. Most Libertarians are very confused. No laws? Some laws? Which laws?

[liberal N proud]

2. I don't think Ron Paul truly understands what Libertarian means

[FBaggins]

3. Of course they can.

"Libertarian" isn't the same thing as "anarchist"... though there's occasionally some overlap.

[tblue]

7. Is there a difference?

They say they want gov't out of people's lives. "Leave us alone so we can do what we want." Then Rand Paul says he doesn't want gov't NOT stopping people from certain "lawlessness.." I just want him to explain what "law" do Libertarians want followed? Who decides, out of the laws that are and aren't on the books, which ones our gov't should uphold? How could any law be enforced if gov't is kept out of our lives?

I don't think you get to pick and choose which laws must be enforced just because you say you're a Libertarian. And I don't think you get to say you want gov't out of people's lives when you really don't!

[kestrel91316]

10. You are correct. See Odin's post #4.

[Odin2005]

4. a Libertarian is an Anarchist that wants police protection from his slaves.

They believe in the Law of the Jungle, the Strong have the right to exploit and oppress the Weak.

[MFrohike]

5. Nope

American libertarians have thrown in with people who regularly underfund and overwhelm the basic institutions of justice. They get to cry about lawlessness when they either fund the judiciary properly or reduce the workload to a level commensurate with the funding.

[Warpy]

6. They want anarchy at the top and totalitarianism at the bottom

and it's high time somebody calls them on this when they're pontificating at some podium or other.

[Rilgin]

8. Traffic lights and Environmental Laws

Forget criminal laws, there is a much easier way to make
Libertarians come to grips with the impossibility of their
message.

Mostly, they attack health, safety, employment and
environmental laws.  You can easily address those regulations
by comparing them to Traffic Lights.

Traffic lights clearly are government mandates that restrict
my freedom to go where I want when I want.   If I violate the
government mandate that I stop, it is for my personal reasons
and has no direct effect on other people.  However, I do not
think Libertarians really want buyer and driver beware at
every single corner of America.  If you are driving at 35 down
a street, you want to rely on a government mandate that says
If you have a green light, you can continue to drive at the
same speed with an expectation its safe.  It is not an
absolute protection because accidents happen because of
mistakes and intentional action but it is better than a system
based on libertarian principles.  However, you clearly do not
want to not have a mandate in place that expects people to
stop when they have a red light.  The absense of that mandate
would require absolute information on what everyone else in
the world was doing at that moment to insure that some other
person was not reaching that intersection at exactly that
moment or would require me as a prudent person to stop at very
corner.

The same is true of environmental laws.  They are there to
allow me an expectation (sometimes matching reality and
sometimes not) that when I breath the air, it does not contain
plutonium or other toxins because Government Mandates that
others restrict their economic activities.  When I breath I do
not have a meter or detector that lets me know that the air is
safe. Nor do I have to rely on some concept that if I was able
to detect an air problem and its source I could maybe bring it
to a justice system to get recompense for my damage.   All I
have is the government mandate that third parties are supposed
to follow that will lead to clean air.

[kestrel91316]

9. No. EOM