"From the saintly and single-minded idealist
to the fanatic is often but a step."
by:
Friedrich August von Hayek
(1899-1992), Nobel Laureate of Economic Sciences 1974
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 -- Anita, Port Orchard      
Mike from Norwalk has taken that step
 -- Waffler, Smith     
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    If a libertarian is a vegeterian he just doesn't eat meat. If a liberal is a vegeterian he wants laws past to make sure no one eat's meat. And ,as usual, Waff is wrong.
     -- jim k, Austin     
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    And this is proof:
    http://gay.americablog.com/2010/06/frc-apparently-wants-death-penalty-for.html
     -- RBESRQ     
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    If a libertarian is a fascist he wants private business to determine if you should be a vegetarian
     -- RBESRQ     
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    Waffler, thank you, I'm happy to know you've recognized my saintly and single-minded idealist ways. My fanaticism concerning such is; it only takes just a little but, continuing compromise into despotism and tyranny (by way of example: compelled compliance, license, victimless crimes, larceny with impunity elimination of habeas corpus, etc.) to extinguish the liberty of the once individual sovereign. You radical patrons of the statist theocracy have no limit on how or where you will attack the nobility of man.
     -- Mike, Norwalk     
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    Isn't that what has happened to the drug war? A good ideal but the fanatic zeal shown by law enforcement breaking into homes, innocent people shot, people serving long sentences for possession (victimless crime), family units broken, and on and on. The cost is enormous and the laws in place now violating everyone's rights, like the bankers "know your customer" rules, reporting deposits and withdrawals, safety deposit boxes accessible by law enforcement without notice to the holder, etc., etc. So many naive people going along with the drug war having no idea the consequences to them. Seizures profitable business. Why is it that the fanatics cannot be brought to task by the majority of normal minds? Why didn't the Germans stop Hitler?
     -- Judith, New Mexico     
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    Judith. One reason the Germans did no stop Hitler is because they TOOK ALL THE GUNS! America and Britain and others, after years of sacrificing our men and women, finally conquered his regime. We cannot let that happen in this country. The second amendment must be protected at all costs. Government needs to stay out of people's lives. Government is required to provide for the common defense and general welfare of the people. On those two most crucial responsibilities they have failed miserably. They have saddled us with enormous debt that is impossible to pay back in our lifetimes or even our children and grandchildren and to what end. You can NOT spend your way out of recession. They are fiscally irresponsible and there is no end in sight. The debt will continue to overtake our ability to pay it down even in more prosperous times. Our borders are not secure nor will they be in the foreseeable future with this administration in power. Their intention is to change the immigration laws to grant amnesty to those already here, then (if ever) secure the border. As for the enforcement of laws that you denounce, we are obligated to enforce the laws as they stand, otherwise chaos would reign. Come to think of it, it already does what with the bribes and kickbacks among other things. You mention the family units broken due to enforcing the drug laws. Do you think for a NY minute that drugs in and of themselves do NOT break up families? Of course they do!! It is not naivete to "go along" with the drug war. It is called being a law abiding citizen.
     -- Carol, Georgia     
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    You guys are really proving this quote true... ;-) Libertarians do not want anyone to decide for anyone -- themselves included. Libertarians are charitable -- they just resent someone forcing them to be charitable for someone they don't know or don't wish to support. The Libertarians are pro-choice but pro-responsibility and understand all choices have consequences. Libertarians are pragmatic, they are reasonable and thoughtful, they are tolerant but have their convictions, too. Libertarians act locally, think globally. The thing about Libertarians is that they aren't really collectivists so they don't have a mob mentality. Libertarians know they have rights that are not enumerated in the Constitution -- who could write them all down! But Liberarians do not believe they have the right to your property and vice versa. They do not believe that their neighbor 'owes' them anything nor do they attempt to use public offices to wield their power of intimidation to force people to pay them or work for them. Statism is a form of religion that worships power -- a Borg mentality that admits that all must be assimilated ('no borders'). Whoops getting a little fanatical. ;-)
     -- E Archer, NYC     
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    http://www.brasschecktv.com/page/856.html
    You must find the above reference link interesting and entertaining. We are all in a fix. Carol, If the government legalized marijuana for example, and cocaine (used to be put in coca colas before the 60's) the quality could be controlled and it could be taxed. If it is available on the market legally it would reduce the incentive to grow it illegally. The criminal element of drugs is what is so horrid. Penalties could still exist for selling it to minors around schools, etc. Alcohol prohibition was the exact same problem, but was started so cars would come off alcohol for fuel and start using petroleum. Once cars were all converted the prohibition was lifted. The fuel industry has really profited when alcohol would be much cheaper, cleaner, and could be grown by your neighbor. Harder drugs could be controlled too for sale by the government, and would be cleaner and safer and taxed. Part of the tax money can be used to rehab programs which people will eventually want and need. It would help pay the deficit. Just take the criminal element out of it. It is too costly to house all the people in our prisons there for possession. If it was for sale by the gvmt. less people would profit by sales, thereby decreasing imprisoned people there for sales. Marijuana competes with cotton and other crops for items like fuel, paper, clothes, textiles, medicines, and rope (which does not even have any active THC in it) etc.
     -- Judith, New Mexico     
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    This goes another step toward fanaticism, wouldn't you say?
    http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn16339-us-police-could-get-pain-beam-weapons.html
     -- Judith, New Mexico     
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    Robert, you know I'm smiling to the point of audible measurement ;-) If a libertarian is a fascist, he isn't a libertarian any more. Just as silly and just as wrong would be if a libertarian is a communist, he wants the statist theocracy (the persona ficta) as a whole to determine if you should be a vegetarian. Robert, WHAT ? ? ? — that is as silly as it is wrong ;-)
     -- Mike, Norwalk     
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    The difference between mentally ill and mentally healthy is significant, succinctly it is the force of destruction versus the force of creativity.
     -- Fredrick William Sillik, Anytown     
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    Waffler, thank you ! ! !  Considering the source — HIGH praise in deed! ! !  My saintly and single-minded belief is that: each individual is a noble sovereign of Eternity's King (a joint heir with Christ), that as a faculty of birth he/she exists with inalienable right(s) and a condition of liberty at "the laws of nature and of nature's God" (mercy and justice being natural elements thereof). Such fanatic idealism is written on my heart.
     -- Mike, Norwalk     
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    Sillik, your self fabricated - ethos encompassed vision of “mentally ill” = force (either to destruction or creation, those being diametrically averse) is well, ummm?. A directed “force” may be a symptom of a type of mental illness BUT, it is NOT a definition of mental illness. Mental Illness is most often understood as an impaired, deranged or defective condition that affects mood or behavior (such as: dysphoria, illusions of grandeur, personality disorder, phobias, schizophrenia or substance abuse). Your erroneous word salad moments on this blog demonstrate a creative religion derived from mental illness. ;-)
     -- Mike, Norwalk     
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