Are you really libertarian at heart?

[henschman]

By 18th Century standards I am a liberal. By late 19th to early 20th Century standards I am a conservative. By modern standards I am a radical militant anti-government extremist.

Sure, you can pigeonhole me as a libertarian. I call myself a voluntarist. I would not be offended at the labels of abolitionist, secessionist, classical liberal, or anarcho-capitalist either.

 

[Rooster1971]

I oppose gay marriage and abortion. I support ending the war on drugs.

I don't endorse homosexuality, but I believe in freedom. If marriage is a religious institution, government shouldn't play a role and offer any benefit one way or other if it isn't good for everyone who wants to commit to someone for life.

The abortion issue isn't something I want to participate in either, but it's upheld by the Supreme Court. If the repubs ever want anyone in power again, it would be a good idea to tone it down. The idea of killing a baby makes me shudder...

 

[Lurker66]

So belonging to a party comes down to how you identify yourself and what you support. Example; Some claim to be Libertarian yet dont support Libertarian ideals, such as gay marriage or abortion.

You can call yourself Libertarian but really your just looking for a group to join that meets some of your ideals. Why do people feel the need to identify with a particular party? I think its because alot of people dont want to be called a Dem or Repub, so they claim Libertarian.

As an "I" you can take the best ideals of any party and your need to self identify would hold more true. At least ya wouldnt sound or feel like a hypocrit. In reality its "ok" to be a socially conservative Dem or Liberal Repub or even a Big Gov Libertarian but it sounds hyprocritical.

So what is a "lower case" L? A person who just wants to self identify as belonging to a group. Being allied to these parties only leads to disapointment with politics.

Set yourself free and register as an Independent and let the parties die a death of no members. I'll vote my conscience in the general and concede the primaries to the statists.

The fastest growing voting block are Independents, ya gotta wonder why?

 

[Billybob]

The fastest growing voting block are Independents, ya gotta wonder why?

Because you can only fool some of the people for so long?

 

[TedKennedy]

I'm pretty much a libertarian - but the abortion issue still has me stumped. If it's "a woman's body, and her right to choose", that should pretty well get the sperm donor off the hook, IMHO. It's her body, she gets to make the choices, she gets to live with them.

On the same thought: chick gets knocked up, doesn't want the kid, sperm donor tries to block her from having abortion, claiming it's his responsiblity..see how far that goes.

Drunk driver hits pregnant woman. He is charged with 2 homicides if they both die. Should this be so if she's on her way to the abortion clinic?

Seems like we should define rights and responsibilities a little better on this one.

 

[RickN]

Not a libertarian but I do share some of their ideas about smaller government. That said, for the Libertarian party to ever become more then "also ran" those who really support libertarian ideas are going to have to stop hiding under the GOPs and others skirts and start really pushing for the Libertarian party. If everyone who I have heard claim to be a libertarian did that, the party could be on the ballot every time.

 

[Danny Tanner]

I'm pretty much a libertarian - but the abortion issue still has me stumped. If it's "a woman's body, and her right to choose", that should pretty well get the sperm donor off the hook, IMHO. It's her body, she gets to make the choices, she gets to live with them.

On the same thought: chick gets knocked up, doesn't want the kid, sperm donor tries to block her from having abortion, claiming it's his responsiblity..see how far that goes.

Drunk driver hits pregnant woman. He is charged with 2 homicides if they both die. Should this be so if she's on her way to the abortion clinic?

Seems like we should define rights and responsibilities a little better on this one.

It wasn't the drunk driver's decision to terminate her fetus, that's why criminals who do so get charged double.

If I were to pick one political identifier for myself it'd be a libertarian. I live and promote a life following one basic concept -- As supposedly "free" citizens of the USA, we have the right to do as we please so long as we do not infringe on those same rights of other citizens.

I 100% support gay rights, as two gays getting married do nothing to tarnish the straight marriage I have chosen to invest in. I believe the evidence that shows homosexuality being a biological doing rather than a choice, so denying gays the right to get married is as absurd to me as denying someone because they have blue eyes or curly hair. To deny gay marriage is a denial on civil rights as there are non-religious, legal advantages to being married that gay couples cannot take advantage of in the majority of states. If a church wants to deny those rights to certain individuals, that's between the church and the Government. However, the Government should legally recognize same-sex marriage. I am pro-choice, but do not believe it should be used as a term of reactive birth control.

Hypothetical examples,

1. Woman chooses to not have protected sex and gets knocked up. Hard cheese, whore, if you don't want the responsibility, don't have sex. Since you didn't heed protip #1, there's always adoption, as the child is better off given a chance with another family than being stuck with you or denied a chance at all. Unfortunately, she still has that right to abort and just like mass shootings with firearms freedoms, this is one of those "with the good comes the bad" situations.

2. Woman is pregnant and her survival is solely dependent on the abortion of her fetus and vice versa. I support her (and her spouse, if applicable) right to choose who lives.

3. Child is conceived during the act of rape. I'm on the fence on this one. The child didn't ask to be conceived, but the mother didn't ask to be raped, either.

Obviously it's not as clean cut as those 3 examples, as I could go deeper into it, but I only wanted to make a point.

 

[RickN]

I have to ask those on favor of gay marriage, do you also support the rights of business people and churches not to be involved with a gay marriage if it goes against their beliefs?

 

[flybeech]

I oppose gay marriage and abortion. I support ending the war on drugs.

The right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness begins at conception. The Constitution never allowed the Federal government to create some arbitrary point in time when we became human and before which we can be slaughtered. Liberty should belong to all, not just those who managed to escape the womb and deadliest place on Earth.

I struggled with this one too, but the Constitution does not allow the Federal government to have any say whatsoever about marriage and Federal laws controlling who is free to marry who are unconstitutional. If anything, that matter is reserved to the States, though I still have my doubts that ANY level of government should have ANY say in the matter of marriage.

I understand that homosexual marriage is repugnant to most people including me, but is the desire to control the behavior of others, when it does not affect you is not in the spirit of liberty. Granting the Federal government power to control victimless behavior of others also gives it the power to control any behavior. Liberty for some, but not for others, isn't liberty.

 

[flybeech]

So belonging to a party comes down to how you identify yourself and what you support. Example; Some claim to be Libertarian yet dont support Libertarian ideals, such as gay marriage or abortion.

You can call yourself Libertarian but really your just looking for a group to join that meets some of your ideals. Why do people feel the need to identify with a particular party? I think its because alot of people dont want to be called a Dem or Repub, so they claim Libertarian.

As an "I" you can take the best ideals of any party and your need to self identify would hold more true. At least ya wouldnt sound or feel like a hypocrit. In reality its "ok" to be a socially conservative Dem or Liberal Repub or even a Big Gov Libertarian but it sounds hyprocritical.

So what is a "lower case" L? A person who just wants to self identify as belonging to a group. Being allied to these parties only leads to disapointment with politics.

Set yourself free and register as an Independent and let the parties die a death of no members. I'll vote my conscience in the general and concede the primaries to the statists.

The fastest growing voting block are Independents, ya gotta wonder why?

In spite of the Founding Fathers warnings, we allowed ourselves to devolve into a two-party system, that the Statists fully control at the top. That's our reality. Being an upper-case Independent is just the creation of yet another party the Statists can control. Rather than remain powerless, why shouldn't ALL Americans who value liberty, seize control from the Statists who desire to control us all from the top, by being involved at the precinct level, becoming a precinct committeeman and supporting liberty from the very foundation of either party. GOP precinct meetings are this week, so anyone who values libertarian ideals should go to those meetings, get themselves elected as precinct committeemen and exercise the power from the foundation level to defend liberty from within.