Why I fled libertarianism — and became a liberal

[RobDownSouth]

Riddle me this and riddle me that, but what we have here is a Liberal who joined the Libertarians without having a core philosophy, but rather, with a wet finger held high aloft.

Ah, my irony meter just a-sploded.

(The Chief has often lectured us about his days as a dirty stinking librul hippie before he found True Enlightenment with his "one from Column A, one from Column B" pastiche of a "Libertarian" philosophy.)

 

[unregistered]

 

[Disgustipated]

Absolutely right on AJ. How stunningly ironic it is to find our own Puppy Platoon, from Lt. Rob to Sgt Major UD right on down to its poodle Privates Zoomie, Weed Wonk, Luke, and KO, fully engaged in a robust defense of the ultimate birther Hillary, while urging her forward with loving lip nips and smooches to her cankles.

Remember when AJ showed up with this name and you put him on iggy immediately? What Fucking dumbass!

 

[RobDownSouth]

Remember when AJ showed up with this name and you put on iggy immediately? What Fucking dumbass!

*grin* That was a truly great moment in Lit history.

 

[Disgustipated]

Lawlz

 

[IrezumiKiss]

Remember when AJ showed up with this name and you put on iggy immediately? What Fucking dumbass!

Corvette Summer there's got more gold medals than Michael Phelps in the Olympic Fail events.

 

[Sean Renaud]

http://youngcons.com/allen-wests-top-10-reasons/


10. I’ll vote Democrat because I can’t wait for college football season to be delayed or cancelled because the student athletes are union employees.

9. I’ll vote Democrat because I believe oil company’s profits of 4% on a gallon of gas are obscene, but the government taxing the same gallon of gas at 15% isn’t.

8. I’ll vote Democrat because I believe the government will do a better job of spending the money I earn than I would.

7. I’ll vote Democrat because Freedom of Speech is fine as long as nobody is offended by it.

6. I’ll vote Democrat because I’m way too irresponsible to own a gun, and I know that my local police are all I need to protect me from murderers and thieves. I am also thankful that we have a 911 service that get police to your home in order to identify your body after a home invasion.

5. I’ll vote Democrat because I’m not concerned about millions of babies being aborted so long as we keep all death row inmates alive and comfy.

4. I’ll vote Democrat because I think illegal aliens have a right to free health care, education, and Social Security benefits, and we should take away the Social Security from those who paid into it.

3. I’ll vote Democrat because I believe that businesses should NOT be allowed to make profits for themselves. They need to break even and give the rest away to the government for redistribution as the Democrats see fit.

2. I’ll vote Democrat because I believe liberal judges need to rewrite the Constitution every few days to suit some fringe kooks who would never get their agendas past the voters.

And the Number One reason I’ll vote Democrat is:

1. I’ll vote Democrat because I think that it’s better to pay billions for oil to people who hate us, but not drill our own because it might upset some endangered beetle, gopher, fish or frog.

Funny list, it's split evenly between common sense things that we have to do and bullshit that nobody anywhere ever said. But we know better than to expect honesty or integrity out of Republicans.

As for how someone went from a retard to "soft communism" is simple. They grew up in the real world and realized how deadly libertarianism. It's an idea so stupid nobody has ever actually tried.

 

[The_Trouvere]

This is an interesting essay. Nevertheless, KingOrfeo would earn more of my respect for his intelligence if he composed his own essays. At least, he should excerpt essays he likes, keep the comment to one computer screen, and follow it with a web address for those who want to read the entire essay.

My epiphany with the new left happened during the spring of 1972 when the Students for a Democratic Society held a convention at Harvard with the expressed intention of destroying the careers of academics who argued that IQ matters, and that it is primarily determined by genes.

That did not turn me into a Republican. Indeed, that fall I voted for George McGovern, with considerable enthusiasm, although little hope that he would win. I still wish McGovern had won. By negotiating a conditional surrender to North Vietnam that included the evacuation of those Vietnamese who latter on became boat people a President McGovern would have saved a lot of lives.

Nevertheless, since the SDS convention at Harvard I have never been a partisan. I have realized that intolerant people and fools can be found at both ends of the political spectrum.

 

[pointless]

fuck off, fascist.

 

[The_Trouvere]

Funny list, it's split evenly between common sense things that we have to do and bullshit that nobody anywhere ever said. But we know better than to expect honesty or integrity out of Republicans.

As for how someone went from a retard to "soft communism" is simple. They grew up in the real world and realized how deadly libertarianism. It's an idea so stupid nobody has ever actually tried.

Actually, libertarianism was tried during the nineteenth century. It has been rejected by the electorate ever since, although reactionaries keep trying to restore it.

 

[The_Trouvere]

fuck off, fascist.

That is a pointless comment.

 

[eyer]

This is an interesting essay. Nevertheless, KingOrfeo would earn more of my respect for his intelligence if he composed his own essays.

Why do you think they call him King0?

 

[KingOrfeo]

This is an interesting essay. Nevertheless, KingOrfeo would earn more of my respect for his intelligence if he composed his own essays.

Sometimes I do.

 

[The_Trouvere]

Sometimes I do.

In a country as polarized as the United States, a multi party system with proportional representation would lead to more gridlock. Democratic socialists would be elected. So would Ayn Rand Objectivists, neo Nazis, and Christian Reconstructionists. Legislative sessions would become shouting matches requiring the occasional intervention of the police.

I like the British parliamentary system. There is no separation of powers. A party that wins a majority in an election can do pretty much what it wants, but it has to take responsibility.

During the Reagan years Republicans blamed a presumably "Democratic Congress" for the failure of tax cuts and increases in military spending to balance the budget. That was a preposterous argument, but it convinced right wing ideologues.

 

[4est_4est_Gump]

OF course that only applies to the left.......it's not like the RWCJ ever wanted to ban/prohibit victimless consumption/behavior in the name of morality, because the RWCJ loves freedumb and individual liberty so much!!! Right guys??? I mean it's not like you want to get into every bedroom, MD's office and dictate mandatory Jesus time......

BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHAHAHAHAHA......AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHAHAHAHAHAHAHA I'm just happy you guys are around to sink the GOP.

Put down the dope.

I vote Libertarian, I voted for Obama...

 

[4est_4est_Gump]

Absolutely right on AJ. How stunningly ironic it is to find our own Puppy Platoon, from Lt. Rob to Sgt Major UD right on down to its poodle Privates Zoomie, Weed Wonk, Luke, and KO, fully engaged in a robust defense of the ultimate birther Hillary, while urging her forward with loving lip nips and smooches to her cankles.

okay, I laughed...


I am a bad man.

 

[4est_4est_Gump]

This is an interesting essay. Nevertheless, KingOrfeo would earn more of my respect for his intelligence if he composed his own essays. At least, he should excerpt essays he likes, keep the comment to one computer screen, and follow it with a web address for those who want to read the entire essay.

My epiphany with the new left happened during the spring of 1972 when the Students for a Democratic Society held a convention at Harvard with the expressed intention of destroying the careers of academics who argued that IQ matters, and that it is primarily determined by genes.

That did not turn me into a Republican. Indeed, that fall I voted for George McGovern, with considerable enthusiasm, although little hope that he would win. I still wish McGovern had won. By negotiating a conditional surrender to North Vietnam that included the evacuation of those Vietnamese who latter on became boat people a President McGovern would have saved a lot of lives.

Nevertheless, since the SDS convention at Harvard I have never been a partisan. I have realized that intolerant people and fools can be found at both ends of the political spectrum.

I call bullshit. You consistently come down on the side of the Democrat argument because you are a Socialist and proud of it and more often than not, they are demanding or arguing for something that you highly approve of.

 

[4est_4est_Gump]

Sometimes I do.

Rarely anymore...

Every freaking day is at least two or more c&p jobs from the usual partisan left-leaning talking point web sites.

 

[RobDownSouth]

Rarely anymore...

Every freaking day is at least two or more c&p jobs from the usual partisan left-leaning talking point web sites.

Over fifty percent of your posts are cut and pastes and you're whining about excessive cut-and-paste threads?

Chief, sometimes your lack of self awareness is absolutely frightening.

 

[BotanyBoy]

I love how everything left of textbook Fascism is "Socialist" to the GOPers & the libertarian GOP knob slobbers.

 

[Eastcoast1956]

From Salon:

Saturday, Dec 28, 2013 07:30 AM EST

Why I fled libertarianism — and became a liberal

I was a Ron Paul delegate back in 2008 -- now I'm a Democrat. Here's my personal tale of disgust and self-discovery

Edwin Lyngar

The night before the 2008 Nevada Republican convention, the Ron Paul delegates all met at a Reno high school. Although I’d called myself a libertarian for almost my entire adult life, it was my first exposure to the wider movement.

And boy, was it a circus. Many members of the group were obsessed with the gold standard, the Kennedy assassination and the Fed. Although Libertarians believe government is incompetent, many of them subscribe to the most fringe conspiracy theories imaginable. Airplanes are poisoning America with chemicals (chemtrails) or the moon landings were faked. Nothing was too far out. A great many of them really think that 9-11 was an inside job. Even while basking in the electoral mainstream, the movement was overflowing with obvious hokum.

During the meeting, a Ron Paul staffer, a smart and charismatic young woman, gave a tip to the group for the upcoming convention.

“Dress normal,” she said. “Wear suits, and don’t bring signs or flags. Don’t talk about conspiracy theories. Just fit in.” Her advice was the kind you might hear given to an insane uncle at Thanksgiving.

Then next day, I ran into that same operative at the convention, and I complimented her because Ron Paul delegates were being accepted into the crowd. I added, “We‘re going to win this thing.”

“Bring in the clowns,” she said, and smiled before I lost her in the mass of people.

I will never forget that moment: Bring in the clowns. At the time, I considered myself a thoughtful person, yet I could hardly claim to be one if you judged me by the company I kept. The young lady knew something I had not yet learned: most of our supporters were totally fucking nuts.

I came by my own libertarian sensibilities honestly. I grew up in a mining town that produced gold, silver and copper; but above all, Battle Mountain, Nev. made libertarians. Raised on 40-acre square of brown sage brush and dead earth, we burned our own garbage and fired guns in the back yard.

After leaving my small town upbringing, I learned that libertarians are made for lots of reasons, like reading the bad fiction of Ayn Rand or perhaps the passable writing of Robert Heinlein. In my experience, most seemed to be poor, white and undereducated. They were contortionists, justifying the excesses of the capitalist elite, despite being victims if libertarian politics succeed.

If you think that selfishness and cruelty are fantastic personal traits, you might be a libertarian. In the movement no one will ever call you an asshole, but rather, say you believe in radical individualism.

Yet I don’t want to gloss over the good things about libertarians. They are generally supportive of the gay community, completely behind marijuana legalization and are often against ill-considered foreign wars, but a few good ideas don’t make up for some spectacularly bad ones. Their saving grace is a complete lack of organizational ability, which is why they are always trying to take over the Republican Party, rather than create a party of their own.

The Ron Paul delegates were able to take over the Nevada convention in 2008, howling, screeching and grinding it to a painful halt. I was part of the mob, and once we took over, we were unable to get anything done. The national delegates were appointed in secret later.

The Republican convention didn’t turn me off of libertarians, but I started losing respect for the movement while watching the financial meltdown. Libertarians were (rightly) furious when our government bailed out the banks, but they fought hardest against help for ordinary Americans. They hated unemployment insurance and reduced school lunches. I used to say similar things, but in such a catastrophic recession isn’t the government supposed to help? Isn’t that the lesson of the Great Depression?

Through all the turmoil, the presidential election went ahead. Although I didn’t vote for him, I wept when Barack Obama took the oath of office in early 2009. They were tears of bewilderment, joy, pride and hope, despite the fact that I did everything within my own limited power to keep the moment from ever happening.

From the ashes of the election rose the movement that pushed me from convinced libertarian into bunny-hugging liberal. The Tea Party monster forever tainted the words freedom and libertarian for me. The rise of the Tea Party made me want to puke, and my nausea is now a chronic condition.

There are a lot of libertarians in the Tea Party, but there are also a lot of repugnant, religious nuts and intolerant racists. “Birthers” found a comfy home among 9-11 conspiracy people and other crackpots. After only a few months, I had absolutely no desire to ever be linked to this group of people.

As evidence, I offer the most repugnant example of many complaints. I’ve heard the n-word used in casual conversation from people I would never expect. Some people might not believe it or think I’m playing the race card, but I’m not. I’ve heard the word more than I care to admit and more often in the run-up to the 2012 election. Perhaps because I’m a big, fat and bald white guy with a mean goatee, racists think I’m on board with them. I am not, and I’m ashamed to admit that my cowardice at confronting this ugliness makes me complicit.

During Obama’s first term, I also went to graduate school for creative writing at progressive college, and I settled into my marriage with my wife, a Canadian and “goddamn liberal.” I can’t point to just one thing that pushed me left, but in Obama’s first term I had a change of heart, moving from a lifelong extreme into the bosom of conventional liberalism.

I began to think about real people, like my neighbors and people less lucky than me. Did I want those people to starve to death? I care about children, even poor ones. I love the National Park system. The best parts of the America I love are our communities. My libertarian friends might call me a fucking commie (they have) or a pussy, but extreme selfishness is just so isolating and cruel. Libertarianism is unnatural, and the size of the federal government is almost irrelevant. The real question is: what does society need and how do we pay for it?

A month before the 2012 election, I changed my party affiliation to Democrat. I am a very late bloomer, that it took me so many decades to develop my own values. I was thirty-nine.

I don’t think regular Americans have any idea just how crazy libertarians can be. The only human corollary I can offer is unquestioning religious fervor, and hell yeah, I used to be a true believer. Libertarians think they own the word “freedom,” but it’s a word that often obfuscates more than enlightens. If you believe the Johann Wolfgang von Goethe quote “None are more hopelessly enslaved than those who falsely believe they are free,” then libertarians live in a prison of their own ideology.

The entire libertarian and tea party movement is insane. It is based on a society where you have to either be on the fringe or a elitist control freak. I spent years in a society that wanted me to keep my husband from being a problem to the promenent people and their families in our area. I lived in a community of prominence and was always taught the society comes first.

In the last year I have come to find that I was being controlled manipulated and instructed to hurt the man I married just so the Country Club set in the community, could feel superior, get their sons and daughters the best jobs, override contracts in unions, tell others they were only allowed to look as others got to do.

Our society feared people like my husband, his own father was one of these people, He tells my husband that just because other people have days, holidays, and vacations that work right beside him on the same job, off my husband should not expect he had the same rights, After all you don't have children, you cheated to enable your senority to continue when everyone else had theirs frozen in that layoff in 1979, you did not stick around and take the same hardships like others did. When my husband came home I could see the fear in people of how they considered he was going to mess their lives up. His father was practicly besieged by people that where saying what right does your son have to come back and displace my son or daughter onto 2nd shift they have lives. fiancés and relationships they have to nourish, or my son has 4 children by three wives in the last six years he can't go to seconds an be able to participate in their life, or even better if your son causes the chaos he can cause in my bid for public office you will regret it. My children have to be available to me to help and that can't be done on 2nd shift or being required to work weekends or holidays and twelve hour shifts just because my husband wanted a day off every once in a while.

I bought the whole responsibility to society ideal hook line and sinker. My father in law said my son might have the contractual right to have these things but does he have the right to affect so many others.

My husband never got much of what he wanted in life, his mother and father would be standing there saying there is always tomorrow, one day he will be able just to have the things he wants, including time with you, just be patient, Don't offer anything at home he might be happy with, We know this is hard on you but you are pretty enough you can find other diversions for your self, we will even help with that, just keep him under control. don't give him reason to expect things he has no real right to expect, your society needs you to be strong and do this.

These were the platitude that filled my had for 16 years until my husband developed a cyst on his Brain stem. It blocked the spinal fluid off in his head causing hydrocephalus. He was able to have 1 day off after they drilled a hole to the center of his head. His doctor wanted at least a month in recovery but his father was called my his union steward and was told this is the worst time he could have this happen. It was july 31 2001. There were to many on vacation, the farmers had to have people to work at getting harvest ready so his father said he is a strong man he can take it. and he went back to second shift with a fresh hole over his right eye, A very confused memory, the back log on his job was two days so he had to work16 hour shifts to catch up and be reminded of what he was supposed to do.
A month latter 9/11 happened. My husband had told everyone when the USS Cole was hit that that and the embassys were warm ups for another try by Bin Laden at the world trade center. He was told he was stupid, he said ok just mark me and went to work.
A month after the trade center was hit he decided he had enough of 2nd shift and went over the local unions head to the national union and had them override a decision that the son of the county counceles president did not have the time to take a job my husband bid on. He was 12 or 13 years under my husband but was supposed to get the job because of his fathers influence. My husband took the job he had earned. the man that did not get the job thought he could strong arm my husband into removing his bid and bought three friends over to teach my husband a lesson about who ran things, him and his three friends ended up in a trauma center, my husband walked away with one bruise and a very angry father and scared wife after I witnessed the savage counter attack my husband delivered, His father said do you know who his father was, he is someone I support for his office and a friend, My husband just looked at him and said what is that to me. His father said don't you get snippy with me, all you had to do was back down and four men would not have been that badly hurt, that's not the last day I saw my husband go rebel but it scared me, I thought people would come after me because I did not keep control.
After that day things have become much more intense the only thing I had to use to keep control of my husband was to promise sex one day if he did not cause trouble, After that I was forced in a private meeting with his father to keep myself unavailable to his son. It had been years any way, and I had other lovers, everyone but my husband was content with the situation, it came to the point several times when the national union had to step in and tell the corporation and local union that they would adhere to the contract. It did not sit well in our town, They made sure under the contract my husband still worked an off shift 3rds. there was always someone that he had to replace on other shifts, when he came home he always had something he had to fix, build or do for general maintenance of the home then go to bed for several hours sleep.
they say he lost his mind over a three day period in 2007. The company had Instituted a new way of doing things in Material process control. Called maitinance, repair and operations. or MRO my husbands supervisor did not even work for the same company my husband did. The new plant manager was the developer of this plan and came in and asked my husband what he thought MRO meant my husbands answer was Mentally retarded operations and went back to work Needless to say the man was fuming.
To nights later my husband was working another Saturday night 16 hour shift into Sunday. He was to give the shipping manifesto a truck taking 18000 lbs of scrap to remelt, The company that was to pick the scrap up had locked its union employees out. and sent a truck that had to be stopped with an emergency break, my husband asked for cdl and union card, he was not supposed to give the load with out these two things.
The had neither and was refused the load. 45 minutes later the CEO of the company that was supposed to get the load. He had a state police captain and sheriffs deputy in tow. The man opened his brief case and handed a fax to my husband directing the load be turned over no questions asked, it was signed by the states governor, He handed the faxback and went to what he was doing before he came in, They stood there and asked where's the manifest. He said in the office your not getting the load, The state police captain asked what do we tell the governor my husband said tell him to come and give that order face to face.
The deputy had known my husband for years and said what will you do if he does, my husbands answer was I have a trailer hitch back here, i'll shove it up his rear and let him tow it and would not talk any more. He was asked to retire the next day.
I was still scared, he was not listening to anyone. His father said it was like talking to a rock, He went to work at the FedEx hub it was an enviornment he agreed with even supervisors did the job he did. everyone was on an equal footing, he fell out of the back of an MD 10 one night thought he just bruised his back. Two month later he was diagnosed with MRSA in his spine. it nearly killed him. It was the second time in a decade his entire spinal fluid content was drained, He has not been out of pain since.
I was still supposed to keep his mouth controlled. I was still having affairs, and I was caught. It was an old BF from before I knew my husband. He was a lawyer, he thought because of this he had the right to humiliate my husband who spent the last two years getting to his feet. The return was much worse, it ruined his family because it was impossible to hide what happen, again his father said his son just wont back down, we had my husband put in a stress center for anger management, He was not supposed to be home for three weeks. His father asked the day after since my son is out of the way I have a friend that needs an escort to a political dinner, he has two tickets would you please go with him. I agreed, The Monday I was going to this dinner the stress center called and said my husband needed a ride because he was being discharged this was at 11:30 in the morning. I called his father to stop his friend from coming his father said he would call the hospital and explain there was not going to be a pickup. he asked if I kept his sons wallet and cash I said yes, Then let him be humbled a little bit, with a cane and no feeling in his legs it will be late tomorrow before he can walk the distance.
My husband had something we did not know about, a provision in his insurance that would provide a ride home. He showed up just as I finished getting ready to go. He asked where we were going. I told the truth and he said not happening. I called his father. His father said as a personal favor, the man works with the mayor, they might not get home until the next morning depending. My husband said he's got three passes and his father said don't be stupid . He said just give him an hour, he was coming over. The new dress I was wearing looked really good and my husband said there was no way I was going without him. I said I would meet him any where right after the dinner I promise and we can talk. He said no you have a thirty one year note due and that is this instant> I took off running, he turned my dress into confetti. It was not love but rage and anger. The man I was to go out with. Came to the door and heard me crying. He tried to force his way past my husband. My husband grabbed him and threw him over the porch rail face first into a cement drive. just as his father pulled up. He helped his friend to the ER, went and picked up my husbands mother and sister, The passes were not used, I talked to the police, they said with all that my husband went through they were not going to get into it, They did not look at what he did to me as abuse, They left before husbands family arrived. They came saw me still holding my ruined dress in a bathrobe. His father did not stand on ceremony, started screaming when are you going to realize just because others have does not mean you have the right to, Your wife has the right to refuse you for your entire life if she choses when are you going to be a real man, grow up you are not important enough to have your life belong to you. My husband said if you are done. He then said there was never again going to be a time when I would go anywhere with another man, I am in this house the first and formost authority. If she wants her rear cane hit the road. All these things that I have supplied over the years will be sold, he looked at me and said that includes the wedgewood collection. You get half I get half. The account you have at chase is a marital asset, I did not know he knew about it, That gets split if you walk out the door. You will have to live on anything you get. I wont supply it even if I have to be jailed.
His father slapped his son at that point my husband returned it with a backhand and told him thee next time he better kill him. All the women in the room were crying, We had just witness a man driven to far, by what we thought was a nessesary thing in society.
His mother said lets sleep tonight there is always tomorrow, my husband said if he heard that one more time he would eliminate the person saying it. He looked at me and said there is the door I will pay for the bus fare to VA, have a better life. I will. After six month I will file abandonment.
My mother says I will have to work things out with my husband, People live in terror, I have not left. I don't go anywhere that my husband does not monitor. His brother In TN said it was going to happen, why do you think I moved here. I wont stand for the controls.
His mother says we made this monster, now we can't control it so we better get ready for the backlash. His sister says that she thought she had problems, She is very glad she has not caused anything with her brother.
I ask did we turn a man insane? Do we need to be responsible for this? My father in law says a real man should just accept his place in life, should not require sex from his wife or need sex from anyone, a real man would understand that promenent people need more rights because of their place in the community and a real man could see this. This rant was delivered on our porch in front of all the neighbers I would kick your ass. One man said if I were your son. This is to much We have watched the torment and now see the social climbing author, He turned to my husband and asked if he needed help. My husband said no its a very ignorant person with stupid ideas about what rights people had. He thinks that people have the right just because of family or position they have to be able to make one bow and say Milord may I serve you, Husband says he will take a chunk out of the hide of anyone that did that.
Does any one here support the position of my husband or is the family position more important? I don't know any longer.

 

[Eastcoast1956]

From Salon:

Saturday, Dec 28, 2013 07:30 AM EST

Why I fled libertarianism — and became a liberal

I was a Ron Paul delegate back in 2008 -- now I'm a Democrat. Here's my personal tale of disgust and self-discovery

Edwin Lyngar

The night before the 2008 Nevada Republican convention, the Ron Paul delegates all met at a Reno high school. Although I’d called myself a libertarian for almost my entire adult life, it was my first exposure to the wider movement.

And boy, was it a circus. Many members of the group were obsessed with the gold standard, the Kennedy assassination and the Fed. Although Libertarians believe government is incompetent, many of them subscribe to the most fringe conspiracy theories imaginable. Airplanes are poisoning America with chemicals (chemtrails) or the moon landings were faked. Nothing was too far out. A great many of them really think that 9-11 was an inside job. Even while basking in the electoral mainstream, the movement was overflowing with obvious hokum.

During the meeting, a Ron Paul staffer, a smart and charismatic young woman, gave a tip to the group for the upcoming convention.

“Dress normal,” she said. “Wear suits, and don’t bring signs or flags. Don’t talk about conspiracy theories. Just fit in.” Her advice was the kind you might hear given to an insane uncle at Thanksgiving.

Then next day, I ran into that same operative at the convention, and I complimented her because Ron Paul delegates were being accepted into the crowd. I added, “We‘re going to win this thing.”

“Bring in the clowns,” she said, and smiled before I lost her in the mass of people.

I will never forget that moment: Bring in the clowns. At the time, I considered myself a thoughtful person, yet I could hardly claim to be one if you judged me by the company I kept. The young lady knew something I had not yet learned: most of our supporters were totally fucking nuts.

I came by my own libertarian sensibilities honestly. I grew up in a mining town that produced gold, silver and copper; but above all, Battle Mountain, Nev. made libertarians. Raised on 40-acre square of brown sage brush and dead earth, we burned our own garbage and fired guns in the back yard.

After leaving my small town upbringing, I learned that libertarians are made for lots of reasons, like reading the bad fiction of Ayn Rand or perhaps the passable writing of Robert Heinlein. In my experience, most seemed to be poor, white and undereducated. They were contortionists, justifying the excesses of the capitalist elite, despite being victims if libertarian politics succeed.

If you think that selfishness and cruelty are fantastic personal traits, you might be a libertarian. In the movement no one will ever call you an asshole, but rather, say you believe in radical individualism.

Yet I don’t want to gloss over the good things about libertarians. They are generally supportive of the gay community, completely behind marijuana legalization and are often against ill-considered foreign wars, but a few good ideas don’t make up for some spectacularly bad ones. Their saving grace is a complete lack of organizational ability, which is why they are always trying to take over the Republican Party, rather than create a party of their own.

The Ron Paul delegates were able to take over the Nevada convention in 2008, howling, screeching and grinding it to a painful halt. I was part of the mob, and once we took over, we were unable to get anything done. The national delegates were appointed in secret later.

The Republican convention didn’t turn me off of libertarians, but I started losing respect for the movement while watching the financial meltdown. Libertarians were (rightly) furious when our government bailed out the banks, but they fought hardest against help for ordinary Americans. They hated unemployment insurance and reduced school lunches. I used to say similar things, but in such a catastrophic recession isn’t the government supposed to help? Isn’t that the lesson of the Great Depression?

Through all the turmoil, the presidential election went ahead. Although I didn’t vote for him, I wept when Barack Obama took the oath of office in early 2009. They were tears of bewilderment, joy, pride and hope, despite the fact that I did everything within my own limited power to keep the moment from ever happening.

From the ashes of the election rose the movement that pushed me from convinced libertarian into bunny-hugging liberal. The Tea Party monster forever tainted the words freedom and libertarian for me. The rise of the Tea Party made me want to puke, and my nausea is now a chronic condition.

There are a lot of libertarians in the Tea Party, but there are also a lot of repugnant, religious nuts and intolerant racists. “Birthers” found a comfy home among 9-11 conspiracy people and other crackpots. After only a few months, I had absolutely no desire to ever be linked to this group of people.

As evidence, I offer the most repugnant example of many complaints. I’ve heard the n-word used in casual conversation from people I would never expect. Some people might not believe it or think I’m playing the race card, but I’m not. I’ve heard the word more than I care to admit and more often in the run-up to the 2012 election. Perhaps because I’m a big, fat and bald white guy with a mean goatee, racists think I’m on board with them. I am not, and I’m ashamed to admit that my cowardice at confronting this ugliness makes me complicit.

During Obama’s first term, I also went to graduate school for creative writing at progressive college, and I settled into my marriage with my wife, a Canadian and “goddamn liberal.” I can’t point to just one thing that pushed me left, but in Obama’s first term I had a change of heart, moving from a lifelong extreme into the bosom of conventional liberalism.

I began to think about real people, like my neighbors and people less lucky than me. Did I want those people to starve to death? I care about children, even poor ones. I love the National Park system. The best parts of the America I love are our communities. My libertarian friends might call me a fucking commie (they have) or a pussy, but extreme selfishness is just so isolating and cruel. Libertarianism is unnatural, and the size of the federal government is almost irrelevant. The real question is: what does society need and how do we pay for it?

A month before the 2012 election, I changed my party affiliation to Democrat. I am a very late bloomer, that it took me so many decades to develop my own values. I was thirty-nine.

I don’t think regular Americans have any idea just how crazy libertarians can be. The only human corollary I can offer is unquestioning religious fervor, and hell yeah, I used to be a true believer. Libertarians think they own the word “freedom,” but it’s a word that often obfuscates more than enlightens. If you believe the Johann Wolfgang von Goethe quote “None are more hopelessly enslaved than those who falsely believe they are free,” then libertarians live in a prison of their own ideology.

The entire libertarian and tea party movement is insane. It is based on a society where you have to either be on the fringe or a elitist control freak. I spent years in a society that wanted me to keep my husband from being a problem to the promenent people and their families in our area. I lived in a community of prominence and was always taught the society comes first.

In the last year I have come to find that I was being controlled manipulated and instructed to hurt the man I married just so the Country Club set in the community, could feel superior, get their sons and daughters the best jobs, override contracts in unions, tell others they were only allowed to look as others got to do.

Our society feared people like my husband, his own father was one of these people, He tells my husband that just because other people have days, holidays, and vacations that work right beside him on the same job, off my husband should not expect he had the same rights, After all you don't have children, you cheated to enable your senority to continue when everyone else had theirs frozen in that layoff in 1979, you did not stick around and take the same hardships like others did. When my husband came home I could see the fear in people of how they considered he was going to mess their lives up. His father was practicly besieged by people that where saying what right does your son have to come back and displace my son or daughter onto 2nd shift they have lives. fiancés and relationships they have to nourish, or my son has 4 children by three wives in the last six years he can't go to seconds an be able to participate in their life, or even better if your son causes the chaos he can cause in my bid for public office you will regret it. My children have to be available to me to help and that can't be done on 2nd shift or being required to work weekends or holidays and twelve hour shifts just because my husband wanted a day off every once in a while.

I bought the whole responsibility to society ideal hook line and sinker. My father in law said my son might have the contractual right to have these things but does he have the right to affect so many others.

My husband never got much of what he wanted in life, his mother and father would be standing there saying there is always tomorrow, one day he will be able just to have the things he wants, including time with you, just be patient, Don't offer anything at home he might be happy with, We know this is hard on you but you are pretty enough you can find other diversions for your self, we will even help with that, just keep him under control. don't give him reason to expect things he has no real right to expect, your society needs you to be strong and do this.

These were the platitude that filled my had for 16 years until my husband developed a cyst on his Brain stem. It blocked the spinal fluid off in his head causing hydrocephalus. He was able to have 1 day off after they drilled a hole to the center of his head. His doctor wanted at least a month in recovery but his father was called my his union steward and was told this is the worst time he could have this happen. It was july 31 2001. There were to many on vacation, the farmers had to have people to work at getting harvest ready so his father said he is a strong man he can take it. and he went back to second shift with a fresh hole over his right eye, A very confused memory, the back log on his job was two days so he had to work16 hour shifts to catch up and be reminded of what he was supposed to do.
A month latter 9/11 happened. My husband had told everyone when the USS Cole was hit that that and the embassys were warm ups for another try by Bin Laden at the world trade center. He was told he was stupid, he said ok just mark me and went to work.
A month after the trade center was hit he decided he had enough of 2nd shift and went over the local unions head to the national union and had them override a decision that the son of the county counceles president did not have the time to take a job my husband bid on. He was 12 or 13 years under my husband but was supposed to get the job because of his fathers influence. My husband took the job he had earned. the man that did not get the job thought he could strong arm my husband into removing his bid and bought three friends over to teach my husband a lesson about who ran things, him and his three friends ended up in a trauma center, my husband walked away with one bruise and a very angry father and scared wife after I witnessed the savage counter attack my husband delivered, His father said do you know who his father was, he is someone I support for his office and a friend, My husband just looked at him and said what is that to me. His father said don't you get snippy with me, all you had to do was back down and four men would not have been that badly hurt, that's not the last day I saw my husband go rebel but it scared me, I thought people would come after me because I did not keep control.
After that day things have become much more intense the only thing I had to use to keep control of my husband was to promise sex one day if he did not cause trouble, After that I was forced in a private meeting with his father to keep myself unavailable to his son. It had been years any way, and I had other lovers, everyone but my husband was content with the situation, it came to the point several times when the national union had to step in and tell the corporation and local union that they would adhere to the contract. It did not sit well in our town, They made sure under the contract my husband still worked an off shift 3rds. there was always someone that he had to replace on other shifts, when he came home he always had something he had to fix, build or do for general maintenance of the home then go to bed for several hours sleep.
they say he lost his mind over a three day period in 2007. The company had Instituted a new way of doing things in Material process control. Called maitinance, repair and operations. or MRO my husbands supervisor did not even work for the same company my husband did. The new plant manager was the developer of this plan and came in and asked my husband what he thought MRO meant my husbands answer was Mentally retarded operations and went back to work Needless to say the man was fuming.
To nights later my husband was working another Saturday night 16 hour shift into Sunday. He was to give the shipping manifesto a truck taking 18000 lbs of scrap to remelt, The company that was to pick the scrap up had locked its union employees out. and sent a truck that had to be stopped with an emergency break, my husband asked for cdl and union card, he was not supposed to give the load with out these two things.
The had neither and was refused the load. 45 minutes later the CEO of the company that was supposed to get the load. He had a state police captain and sheriffs deputy in tow. The man opened his brief case and handed a fax to my husband directing the load be turned over no questions asked, it was signed by the states governor, He handed the faxback and went to what he was doing before he came in, They stood there and asked where's the manifest. He said in the office your not getting the load, The state police captain asked what do we tell the governor my husband said tell him to come and give that order face to face.
The deputy had known my husband for years and said what will you do if he does, my husbands answer was I have a trailer hitch back here, i'll shove it up his rear and let him tow it and would not talk any more. He was asked to retire the next day.
I was still scared, he was not listening to anyone. His father said it was like talking to a rock, He went to work at the FedEx hub it was an enviornment he agreed with even supervisors did the job he did. everyone was on an equal footing, he fell out of the back of an MD 10 one night thought he just bruised his back. Two month later he was diagnosed with MRSA in his spine. it nearly killed him. It was the second time in a decade his entire spinal fluid content was drained, He has not been out of pain since.
I was still supposed to keep his mouth controlled. I was still having affairs, and I was caught. It was an old BF from before I knew my husband. He was a lawyer, he thought because of this he had the right to humiliate my husband who spent the last two years getting to his feet. The return was much worse, it ruined his family because it was impossible to hide what happen, again his father said his son just wont back down, we had my husband put in a stress center for anger management, He was not supposed to be home for three weeks. His father asked the day after since my son is out of the way I have a friend that needs an escort to a political dinner, he has two tickets would you please go with him. I agreed, The Monday I was going to this dinner the stress center called and said my husband needed a ride because he was being discharged this was at 11:30 in the morning. I called his father to stop his friend from coming his father said he would call the hospital and explain there was not going to be a pickup. he asked if I kept his sons wallet and cash I said yes, Then let him be humbled a little bit, with a cane and no feeling in his legs it will be late tomorrow before he can walk the distance.
My husband had something we did not know about, a provision in his insurance that would provide a ride home. He showed up just as I finished getting ready to go. He asked where we were going. I told the truth and he said not happening. I called his father. His father said as a personal favor, the man works with the mayor, they might not get home until the next morning depending. My husband said he's got three passes and his father said don't be stupid . He said just give him an hour, he was coming over. The new dress I was wearing looked really good and my husband said there was no way I was going without him. I said I would meet him any where right after the dinner I promise and we can talk. He said no you have a thirty one year note due and that is this instant> I took off running, he turned my dress into confetti. It was not love but rage and anger. The man I was to go out with. Came to the door and heard me crying. He tried to force his way past my husband. My husband grabbed him and threw him over the porch rail face first into a cement drive. just as his father pulled up. He helped his friend to the ER, went and picked up my husbands mother and sister, The passes were not used, I talked to the police, they said with all that my husband went through they were not going to get into it, They did not look at what he did to me as abuse, They left before husbands family arrived. They came saw me still holding my ruined dress in a bathrobe. His father did not stand on ceremony, started screaming when are you going to realize just because others have does not mean you have the right to, Your wife has the right to refuse you for your entire life if she choses when are you going to be a real man, grow up you are not important enough to have your life belong to you. My husband said if you are done. He then said there was never again going to be a time when I would go anywhere with another man, I am in this house the first and formost authority. If she wants her rear cane hit the road. All these things that I have supplied over the years will be sold, he looked at me and said that includes the wedgewood collection. You get half I get half. The account you have at chase is a marital asset, I did not know he knew about it, That gets split if you walk out the door. You will have to live on anything you get. I wont supply it even if I have to be jailed.
His father slapped his son at that point my husband returned it with a backhand and told him thee next time he better kill him. All the women in the room were crying, We had just witness a man driven to far, by what we thought was a nessesary thing in society.
His mother said lets sleep tonight there is always tomorrow, my husband said if he heard that one more time he would eliminate the person saying it. He looked at me and said there is the door I will pay for the bus fare to VA, have a better life. I will. After six month I will file abandonment.
My mother says I will have to work things out with my husband, People live in terror, I have not left. I don't go anywhere that my husband does not monitor. His brother In TN said it was going to happen, why do you think I moved here. I wont stand for the controls.
His mother says we made this monster, now we can't control it so we better get ready for the backlash. His sister says that she thought she had problems, She is very glad she has not caused anything with her brother.
I ask did we turn a man insane? Do we need to be responsible for this? My father in law says a real man should just accept his place in life, should not require sex from his wife or need sex from anyone, a real man would understand that promenent people need more rights because of their place in the community and a real man could see this. This rant was delivered on our porch in front of all the neighbers I would kick your ass. One man said if I were your son. This is to much We have watched the torment and now see the social climbing author, He turned to my husband and asked if he needed help. My husband said no its a very ignorant person with stupid ideas about what rights people had. He thinks that people have the right just because of family or position they have to be able to make one bow and say Milord may I serve you, Husband says he will take a chunk out of the hide of anyone that did that.
Does any one here support the position of my husband or is the family position more important? I don't know any longer.

 

[BotanyBoy]

The entire libertarian and tea party movement is insane. It is based on a society where you have to either be on the fringe or a elitist control freak. I spent years in a society that wanted me to keep my husband from being a problem to the promenent people and their families in our area. I lived in a community of prominence and was always taught the society comes first.

In the last year I have come to find that I was being controlled manipulated and instructed to hurt the man I married just so the Country Club set in the community, could feel superior, get their sons and daughters the best jobs, override contracts in unions, tell others they were only allowed to look as others got to do.

Our society feared people like my husband, his own father was one of these people, He tells my husband that just because other people have days, holidays, and vacations that work right beside him on the same job, off my husband should not expect he had the same rights, After all you don't have children, you cheated to enable your senority to continue when everyone else had theirs frozen in that layoff in 1979, you did not stick around and take the same hardships like others did. When my husband came home I could see the fear in people of how they considered he was going to mess their lives up. His father was practicly besieged by people that where saying what right does your son have to come back and displace my son or daughter onto 2nd shift they have lives. fiancés and relationships they have to nourish, or my son has 4 children by three wives in the last six years he can't go to seconds an be able to participate in their life, or even better if your son causes the chaos he can cause in my bid for public office you will regret it. My children have to be available to me to help and that can't be done on 2nd shift or being required to work weekends or holidays and twelve hour shifts just because my husband wanted a day off every once in a while.

I bought the whole responsibility to society ideal hook line and sinker. My father in law said my son might have the contractual right to have these things but does he have the right to affect so many others.

My husband never got much of what he wanted in life, his mother and father would be standing there saying there is always tomorrow, one day he will be able just to have the things he wants, including time with you, just be patient, Don't offer anything at home he might be happy with, We know this is hard on you but you are pretty enough you can find other diversions for your self, we will even help with that, just keep him under control. don't give him reason to expect things he has no real right to expect, your society needs you to be strong and do this.

These were the platitude that filled my had for 16 years until my husband developed a cyst on his Brain stem. It blocked the spinal fluid off in his head causing hydrocephalus. He was able to have 1 day off after they drilled a hole to the center of his head. His doctor wanted at least a month in recovery but his father was called my his union steward and was told this is the worst time he could have this happen. It was july 31 2001. There were to many on vacation, the farmers had to have people to work at getting harvest ready so his father said he is a strong man he can take it. and he went back to second shift with a fresh hole over his right eye, A very confused memory, the back log on his job was two days so he had to work16 hour shifts to catch up and be reminded of what he was supposed to do.
A month latter 9/11 happened. My husband had told everyone when the USS Cole was hit that that and the embassys were warm ups for another try by Bin Laden at the world trade center. He was told he was stupid, he said ok just mark me and went to work.
A month after the trade center was hit he decided he had enough of 2nd shift and went over the local unions head to the national union and had them override a decision that the son of the county counceles president did not have the time to take a job my husband bid on. He was 12 or 13 years under my husband but was supposed to get the job because of his fathers influence. My husband took the job he had earned. the man that did not get the job thought he could strong arm my husband into removing his bid and bought three friends over to teach my husband a lesson about who ran things, him and his three friends ended up in a trauma center, my husband walked away with one bruise and a very angry father and scared wife after I witnessed the savage counter attack my husband delivered, His father said do you know who his father was, he is someone I support for his office and a friend, My husband just looked at him and said what is that to me. His father said don't you get snippy with me, all you had to do was back down and four men would not have been that badly hurt, that's not the last day I saw my husband go rebel but it scared me, I thought people would come after me because I did not keep control.
After that day things have become much more intense the only thing I had to use to keep control of my husband was to promise sex one day if he did not cause trouble, After that I was forced in a private meeting with his father to keep myself unavailable to his son. It had been years any way, and I had other lovers, everyone but my husband was content with the situation, it came to the point several times when the national union had to step in and tell the corporation and local union that they would adhere to the contract. It did not sit well in our town, They made sure under the contract my husband still worked an off shift 3rds. there was always someone that he had to replace on other shifts, when he came home he always had something he had to fix, build or do for general maintenance of the home then go to bed for several hours sleep.
they say he lost his mind over a three day period in 2007. The company had Instituted a new way of doing things in Material process control. Called maitinance, repair and operations. or MRO my husbands supervisor did not even work for the same company my husband did. The new plant manager was the developer of this plan and came in and asked my husband what he thought MRO meant my husbands answer was Mentally retarded operations and went back to work Needless to say the man was fuming.
To nights later my husband was working another Saturday night 16 hour shift into Sunday. He was to give the shipping manifesto a truck taking 18000 lbs of scrap to remelt, The company that was to pick the scrap up had locked its union employees out. and sent a truck that had to be stopped with an emergency break, my husband asked for cdl and union card, he was not supposed to give the load with out these two things.
The had neither and was refused the load. 45 minutes later the CEO of the company that was supposed to get the load. He had a state police captain and sheriffs deputy in tow. The man opened his brief case and handed a fax to my husband directing the load be turned over no questions asked, it was signed by the states governor, He handed the faxback and went to what he was doing before he came in, They stood there and asked where's the manifest. He said in the office your not getting the load, The state police captain asked what do we tell the governor my husband said tell him to come and give that order face to face.
The deputy had known my husband for years and said what will you do if he does, my husbands answer was I have a trailer hitch back here, i'll shove it up his rear and let him tow it and would not talk any more. He was asked to retire the next day.
I was still scared, he was not listening to anyone. His father said it was like talking to a rock, He went to work at the FedEx hub it was an enviornment he agreed with even supervisors did the job he did. everyone was on an equal footing, he fell out of the back of an MD 10 one night thought he just bruised his back. Two month later he was diagnosed with MRSA in his spine. it nearly killed him. It was the second time in a decade his entire spinal fluid content was drained, He has not been out of pain since.
I was still supposed to keep his mouth controlled. I was still having affairs, and I was caught. It was an old BF from before I knew my husband. He was a lawyer, he thought because of this he had the right to humiliate my husband who spent the last two years getting to his feet. The return was much worse, it ruined his family because it was impossible to hide what happen, again his father said his son just wont back down, we had my husband put in a stress center for anger management, He was not supposed to be home for three weeks. His father asked the day after since my son is out of the way I have a friend that needs an escort to a political dinner, he has two tickets would you please go with him. I agreed, The Monday I was going to this dinner the stress center called and said my husband needed a ride because he was being discharged this was at 11:30 in the morning. I called his father to stop his friend from coming his father said he would call the hospital and explain there was not going to be a pickup. he asked if I kept his sons wallet and cash I said yes, Then let him be humbled a little bit, with a cane and no feeling in his legs it will be late tomorrow before he can walk the distance.
My husband had something we did not know about, a provision in his insurance that would provide a ride home. He showed up just as I finished getting ready to go. He asked where we were going. I told the truth and he said not happening. I called his father. His father said as a personal favor, the man works with the mayor, they might not get home until the next morning depending. My husband said he's got three passes and his father said don't be stupid . He said just give him an hour, he was coming over. The new dress I was wearing looked really good and my husband said there was no way I was going without him. I said I would meet him any where right after the dinner I promise and we can talk. He said no you have a thirty one year note due and that is this instant> I took off running, he turned my dress into confetti. It was not love but rage and anger. The man I was to go out with. Came to the door and heard me crying. He tried to force his way past my husband. My husband grabbed him and threw him over the porch rail face first into a cement drive. just as his father pulled up. He helped his friend to the ER, went and picked up my husbands mother and sister, The passes were not used, I talked to the police, they said with all that my husband went through they were not going to get into it, They did not look at what he did to me as abuse, They left before husbands family arrived. They came saw me still holding my ruined dress in a bathrobe. His father did not stand on ceremony, started screaming when are you going to realize just because others have does not mean you have the right to, Your wife has the right to refuse you for your entire life if she choses when are you going to be a real man, grow up you are not important enough to have your life belong to you. My husband said if you are done. He then said there was never again going to be a time when I would go anywhere with another man, I am in this house the first and formost authority. If she wants her rear cane hit the road. All these things that I have supplied over the years will be sold, he looked at me and said that includes the wedgewood collection. You get half I get half. The account you have at chase is a marital asset, I did not know he knew about it, That gets split if you walk out the door. You will have to live on anything you get. I wont supply it even if I have to be jailed.
His father slapped his son at that point my husband returned it with a backhand and told him thee next time he better kill him. All the women in the room were crying, We had just witness a man driven to far, by what we thought was a nessesary thing in society.
His mother said lets sleep tonight there is always tomorrow, my husband said if he heard that one more time he would eliminate the person saying it. He looked at me and said there is the door I will pay for the bus fare to VA, have a better life. I will. After six month I will file abandonment.
My mother says I will have to work things out with my husband, People live in terror, I have not left. I don't go anywhere that my husband does not monitor. His brother In TN said it was going to happen, why do you think I moved here. I wont stand for the controls.
His mother says we made this monster, now we can't control it so we better get ready for the backlash. His sister says that she thought she had problems, She is very glad she has not caused anything with her brother.
I ask did we turn a man insane? Do we need to be responsible for this? My father in law says a real man should just accept his place in life, should not require sex from his wife or need sex from anyone, a real man would understand that promenent people need more rights because of their place in the community and a real man could see this. This rant was delivered on our porch in front of all the neighbers I would kick your ass. One man said if I were your son. This is to much We have watched the torment and now see the social climbing author, He turned to my husband and asked if he needed help. My husband said no its a very ignorant person with stupid ideas about what rights people had. He thinks that people have the right just because of family or position they have to be able to make one bow and say Milord may I serve you, Husband says he will take a chunk out of the hide of anyone that did that.
Does any one here support the position of my husband or is the family position more important? I don't know any longer.

FML the story submission page is not here Dayday.

http://stream1.gifsoup.com/view4/20140101/4941316/tldr-o.gif

 

[KingOrfeo]

The entire libertarian and tea party movement is insane. It is based on a society where you have to either be on the fringe or a elitist control freak. I spent years in a society that wanted me to keep my husband from being a problem to the promenent people and their families in our area. I lived in a community of prominence and was always taught the society comes first.

In the last year I have come to find that I was being controlled manipulated and instructed to hurt the man I married just so the Country Club set in the community, could feel superior, get their sons and daughters the best jobs, override contracts in unions, tell others they were only allowed to look as others got to do. . . .

I don't see what this story has to do with libertarianism v. liberalism; you are talking about conformity to non-governmental social pressure, which will always be with us in any political system.

 

[Amberchgo]

From Salon:

Saturday, Dec 28, 2013 07:30 AM EST

Why I fled libertarianism — and became a liberal

I was a Ron Paul delegate back in 2008 -- now I'm a Democrat. Here's my personal tale of disgust and self-discovery

Edwin Lyngar

The night before the 2008 Nevada Republican convention, the Ron Paul delegates all met at a Reno high school. Although I’d called myself a libertarian for almost my entire adult life, it was my first exposure to the wider movement.

And boy, was it a circus. Many members of the group were obsessed with the gold standard, the Kennedy assassination and the Fed. Although Libertarians believe government is incompetent, many of them subscribe to the most fringe conspiracy theories imaginable. Airplanes are poisoning America with chemicals (chemtrails) or the moon landings were faked. Nothing was too far out. A great many of them really think that 9-11 was an inside job. Even while basking in the electoral mainstream, the movement was overflowing with obvious hokum.

During the meeting, a Ron Paul staffer, a smart and charismatic young woman, gave a tip to the group for the upcoming convention.

“Dress normal,” she said. “Wear suits, and don’t bring signs or flags. Don’t talk about conspiracy theories. Just fit in.” Her advice was the kind you might hear given to an insane uncle at Thanksgiving.

Then next day, I ran into that same operative at the convention, and I complimented her because Ron Paul delegates were being accepted into the crowd. I added, “We‘re going to win this thing.”

“Bring in the clowns,” she said, and smiled before I lost her in the mass of people.

I will never forget that moment: Bring in the clowns. At the time, I considered myself a thoughtful person, yet I could hardly claim to be one if you judged me by the company I kept. The young lady knew something I had not yet learned: most of our supporters were totally fucking nuts.

I came by my own libertarian sensibilities honestly. I grew up in a mining town that produced gold, silver and copper; but above all, Battle Mountain, Nev. made libertarians. Raised on 40-acre square of brown sage brush and dead earth, we burned our own garbage and fired guns in the back yard.

After leaving my small town upbringing, I learned that libertarians are made for lots of reasons, like reading the bad fiction of Ayn Rand or perhaps the passable writing of Robert Heinlein. In my experience, most seemed to be poor, white and undereducated. They were contortionists, justifying the excesses of the capitalist elite, despite being victims if libertarian politics succeed.

If you think that selfishness and cruelty are fantastic personal traits, you might be a libertarian. In the movement no one will ever call you an asshole, but rather, say you believe in radical individualism.

Yet I don’t want to gloss over the good things about libertarians. They are generally supportive of the gay community, completely behind marijuana legalization and are often against ill-considered foreign wars, but a few good ideas don’t make up for some spectacularly bad ones. Their saving grace is a complete lack of organizational ability, which is why they are always trying to take over the Republican Party, rather than create a party of their own.

The Ron Paul delegates were able to take over the Nevada convention in 2008, howling, screeching and grinding it to a painful halt. I was part of the mob, and once we took over, we were unable to get anything done. The national delegates were appointed in secret later.

The Republican convention didn’t turn me off of libertarians, but I started losing respect for the movement while watching the financial meltdown. Libertarians were (rightly) furious when our government bailed out the banks, but they fought hardest against help for ordinary Americans. They hated unemployment insurance and reduced school lunches. I used to say similar things, but in such a catastrophic recession isn’t the government supposed to help? Isn’t that the lesson of the Great Depression?

Through all the turmoil, the presidential election went ahead. Although I didn’t vote for him, I wept when Barack Obama took the oath of office in early 2009. They were tears of bewilderment, joy, pride and hope, despite the fact that I did everything within my own limited power to keep the moment from ever happening.

From the ashes of the election rose the movement that pushed me from convinced libertarian into bunny-hugging liberal. The Tea Party monster forever tainted the words freedom and libertarian for me. The rise of the Tea Party made me want to puke, and my nausea is now a chronic condition.

There are a lot of libertarians in the Tea Party, but there are also a lot of repugnant, religious nuts and intolerant racists. “Birthers” found a comfy home among 9-11 conspiracy people and other crackpots. After only a few months, I had absolutely no desire to ever be linked to this group of people.

As evidence, I offer the most repugnant example of many complaints. I’ve heard the n-word used in casual conversation from people I would never expect. Some people might not believe it or think I’m playing the race card, but I’m not. I’ve heard the word more than I care to admit and more often in the run-up to the 2012 election. Perhaps because I’m a big, fat and bald white guy with a mean goatee, racists think I’m on board with them. I am not, and I’m ashamed to admit that my cowardice at confronting this ugliness makes me complicit.

During Obama’s first term, I also went to graduate school for creative writing at progressive college, and I settled into my marriage with my wife, a Canadian and “goddamn liberal.” I can’t point to just one thing that pushed me left, but in Obama’s first term I had a change of heart, moving from a lifelong extreme into the bosom of conventional liberalism.

I began to think about real people, like my neighbors and people less lucky than me. Did I want those people to starve to death? I care about children, even poor ones. I love the National Park system. The best parts of the America I love are our communities. My libertarian friends might call me a fucking commie (they have) or a pussy, but extreme selfishness is just so isolating and cruel. Libertarianism is unnatural, and the size of the federal government is almost irrelevant. The real question is: what does society need and how do we pay for it?

A month before the 2012 election, I changed my party affiliation to Democrat. I am a very late bloomer, that it took me so many decades to develop my own values. I was thirty-nine.

I don’t think regular Americans have any idea just how crazy libertarians can be. The only human corollary I can offer is unquestioning religious fervor, and hell yeah, I used to be a true believer. Libertarians think they own the word “freedom,” but it’s a word that often obfuscates more than enlightens. If you believe the Johann Wolfgang von Goethe quote “None are more hopelessly enslaved than those who falsely believe they are free,” then libertarians live in a prison of their own ideology.

Wow. That is one whacked post trying to justify being a liberal. Sort of like saying OWS in NYC showed what all Dems are like.


They should attend a Cato conference or two. Then they'll see what true liberatarians are like.