Question for Conservatives: why does the libertarian Party get so few votes?

[Machjo]

Actually, I'm quite conservative in some respects (e.g. pro-life, pro-capital-punishment),

Machjo, that means you are not really libertarian. A true libertarian is pro choice; he doesn’t want government controlling the behavior of people. I imagine libertarian philosophy is neutral on death penalty.

But being prolife makes you a conservative, with perhaps libertarian tendencies. A libertarian is pro choice, is opposed to any restrictions on pornography (except child porn, of course), and is in favor of legalizing all drugs (not just marijuana). As for gay marriage, he wants government to get out of marriage business altogether, he wants government to only register civil unions for homo and heterosexuals.

He is opposed to any regulations of embryonic stem cell research. He doesn’t even want government to ban cloning.

It is all a part of getting government out of peoples’ lives. That is why there are very few true libertarians. From what you are saying, I don’t think you are one.

When did I ever say I was libertarian? I said that I liked some libertarian principles, but not all of them. In the respects above, you're right, I'm conservative. Yet those belifs play but a small role in my voting pattern. I tend to be quite cosmopolitan too, which explains my attraction to the Greens (pro-UN, internationalist perspective), and the Libertarians (I'm asuming that libetarian support freedom of movement beyond one's borders with minimal restrictions, if he's a pure libertarian at least). The NDP is quite internationalist too, but a little less so than the Greens and with socialist baggage that goes along with it. I'm not against Socialism per se and would vote for a socialist in some cases, but why would I if a non-socialist cosmopolitan candidate presents himself as a viable alternative?

As for the Conservatives and Liberals, they've jus become quite nationalist and warmongering in the last few years. I'm not against war per se, but do believe that there ust be better reasons to go than the ones presented for Afghanistan. At least it respects international law, but when it's a foreing operation, for the sake of showing neutrality, it would make sense that it be a UN-led and not NATO mission. NATO was intended for self-defence, not occupational ventures abroad. Not the most neutral of organizations.

So no, I'm not libertarian and never said that I was, but simply that there are aspects of libertarianism that do attact me much more than the Conservative Party's hawkishness. True the Libertarians are anti-UN, but at least they also believe that a military ought to be reserved for national defence, not nation-building abroad.

 

[Machjo]

Overall, I lean more to the left. But if we're going to lean right, then might as well go libertarian rather than militarist.

 

[SirJosephPorter]

Overall, I lean more to the left. But if we're going to lean right, then might as well go libertarian rather than militarist.

Since we are disusing libertarianism, I wonder if you have heard of propertarianism. That is an extreme version of libertarianism. A propertarian may be considered a Fundamentalist libertarian. He takes the basic tenet of libertarianism (that government should get out of peoples lives) literally.

I remember reading a sci fi novel a few years ago, where he had described a propertarian society. The government had absolutely no power. It did not control money. There was no paper money, only coins. The coins were half an ounce of gold, one ounce of gold, half an ounce of copper, one ounce of copper etc., the value of the coins was inherent in the coins themselves.

Government did not have a military. Of course there would be no question of getting involved in Iraq or Afghanistan type operation. If the country is invaded, citizens were expected to band together in a private army, defeat the enemy and then disband.

Government did not build roads, bridges, infrastructure etc. It was all done by private companies. They would charge citizens for the use of roads, bridges, tunnels etc.

Presidency was only a ceremonial post. Not surprisingly, nobody cared who the president was, a man (or woman) would serve several terms as President, nobody cared about it.

The society did not sound workable to me. It was a fascinating novel nonetheless.

In fact if you Google for ‘propertarian’, you will get several hits.

 

[Cannuck]

A true libertarian is pro choice

um...No!. A libertarians few on abortion is based on his idea as to when life begins. As I am not sure when life begins, I am pro-choice. If somebody convinces me that life begins at conception then, as a human being, that fetus should have all the rights I do. I would switch to being pro-life.