I am a newcomer to the Libertarian movement, having been a long time Liberal Democrat. But the financial crisis along with the Obama administration forced me to take a careful look at big government, and money creation. I have a blog, and I wrote a piece about how my ideas evolved, and I would love hear what folks hear think of my ideas.
No offense, but the following from your piece is total Marxist nonsense:
“The tax code will have as its goal to foster small businesses and entrepreneurs, and limit the radical accumulation of wealth. The oligarchy we have created now has isolated power and opportunity in the hands of a select few. This tax code will open up the playing field and reign in the mega rich. No loopholes. Tax returns will have 5 lines. The IRS will be eliminated and a new National Tax Agency will be created to carry out the implementation of the new tax system.”
It can hardly get more anti-libertarian then that.
Welcome, I did the same change three years ago. Its quite a travel.
Btw, get reay, because this forum is one of the heaviest liberarian forums around. People is very knowlegeable and lso like to point out any incoherence.
EDIT: Just read the whole thing, the big first part, the personal history was very interesting. Realizing that caring about the poor is just an excuse to gan control was one of the things that took me some time to realize as well.
I will just say that i have gone through a similar evolution in political and economic philosophy. I started out a liberal democrat, went to something of an “independent”, then to neocon , then classical liberalism/ libertarianism. It has been a process that has been evolving over several years. I was more emotional in my views back then (2004 ish) which made me feel very sympathetic to socialism and I dont think I was (what i consider) to be very rational. It started with some books that people reccomended to me, going to a Campaign for Liberty conference, and lots of studying. I tend to say that I went from fake liberalism to true liberalism. I am still a work in progress but learning more everyday.
Thanks for the feedback and I agree that this section is not very Libertarian. My thinking goes this way…The focus in modern society on money has made it something other than it should be, store of value and a means of exchange. It has become the greatest source of subjagation, humiliation and manipulation known to man, a far cry from it original, and very practical purpose.
If we look at the power of say a Haim Saiban, or the Koch brothers, it is directly related to their manipulation of a system of corrupt money. The 250K number is not arbitrary. The average home in the US is worth about 200K, 25% of which is usually attributed to labor costs, so 50K is what a skilled person would earn if they built one house entirely by themselves. 250K would be one person, by themselves, building 5 homes. In my mind, that is a alot of skilled work for one person to do, almost a house every 2 months.
When I see a Haim Saban type manipulating media, politicians etc..promoting wars and the like, I half to ask myself, is it not the money, that at some point, manipulates the system, and corrupts the freedom of all?
We want freedom, real freedom, but to have that, there must be a check on the extremes, because in a ‘pure system’, the extremes will eventually corrupt it, and then we are back to where we are now.
Again, thanks for the comments and I look forward to your response..
‘The focus in modern society on money has made it something other than it should be, store of value and a means of exchange. It has become the greatest source of subjagation, humiliation and manipulation known to man, a far cry from it original, and very practical purpose.’
How is it subjugation?
‘When I see a Haim Saban type manipulating media, politicians etc..promoting wars and the like, I half to ask myself, is it not the money, that at some point, manipulates the system, and corrupts the freedom of all?’
Well this place, by and large, does not promote government therefore politicians cannot be ‘bought.’ If an executive wants to buy a newspaper that produces false information then I don’t see how that is a bad thing. We actually already have such a thing. It’s called ‘The National Enquirer’ and hardly many take it seriously. Concerning wars, which is more likely to happen: An executive pays a third party a small to medium sum of money to acquire contracts of great wealth OR an executive pays ( out of his own finances ) for the ability to acquire contracts of wealth?
‘We want freedom, real freedom, but to have that, there must be a check on the extremes, because in a ‘pure system’, the extremes will eventually corrupt it, and then we are back to where we are now.’
What corruption is there in extreme liberty? To paraphrase one of my favorite French anarchists, who shows fear in the face of liberty but tyranny?
Seriously? Saying that money corrupts the freedom of people is like saying guns kill people. Money doesn’t do anything without people.
So you want to keep the anti-privacy IRS and take an entire 50% away from people making above $250,000. Why do you think people should be limited on how much they make? There are millions and millions and millions of people who make more than that and start up charities and businesses employing everyone else.
Pretend someone is worth $1 billion and buys a ton of houses. The other person is worth $1 million and buys a ton of weapons. Who threatens you more, and why would money matter in this case?
I read your blog post and am glad to see that your eyes have been opened. You seem to be off to a great start.
One thing I would caution against is “Constitution-worship”. The Constitution is an inherently flawed document. It was drafted as a de facto coup against the Articles of Confederation, which outlined an even more limited government. Regardless, a piece of paper cannot limit people’s power when they no longer believe in it. US history has shown this to be true in spades.
Feel free to message me with any questions or comments you might have!
By the way, I highly recommend reading What Has Government Done to Our Money? by Murray Rothbard. You can read it online for free here. It was the first thing I ever read about Austrian Economics, and I was sold after reading it. Hopefully it will do the same for you.
Robert, welcome. I would suggest reading this excerpt from Atlas Shrugged. Many problems that involve money are not really caused by the money itself, but the behavior of individuals.
