Libertarians

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Libertarians. They're all over the internet, but seem to mysteriously vanish before election time. Their political ideals are based on the ideas that government intervention is a bad thing by default, social services are evil, and that humans and corporations can be trusted to regulate themselves.

But let's face it, they're never going to get widespread support. Even the stereotypical greedy Republican can probably cite some times when he benefited from tax money... be it something subtle like the government subsizing his state school education or something anyone but a Libertarian would take for granted like firefighters saving his house. Remember Hurricane Katrina? Were there cries of "where is the government? they aren't helping enough!" or was their widespread support to let the city and state take care of it because we wouldn't want them dependent on the federal government?

Abroad, we've seen economic miracles in South Korea and Japan in the mid-20th century. These were achieved by the government taking a guiding hand in business. Not only the US, but the world at large, has evolved beyond small governments. It simply would not work today.

In short, should time machines ever be invented, we need to send the Libertarians back in time to the 1890's to work as factory laborers. There, they'll see their paradise. They'll see first-hand how unnecessary minimum wage, social security, and the FDA are and how well corporate America regulates itself.

The American Government fucked the world over in the 1920s - they took a liberalizing generation and threw it in the mixer by instigating the Great Depression. Boom, we have war, nationalism, regression, religion, statism, fascism, communism and the Cold War - some of the most pathetic, inhuman, divisive frustrating and bloody periods and movements the world has ever seen. Greta Garbo, Jimmy Shields - they were out of the closet and nobody hated them for it. Gender, class and race limits were slowly being blurred, and everybody gave prohibition the finger like every patriot should. And then everything turned to shit in 1929. Goddamit. The problem with government isn't intrinsic, but it all depends on the people and no one should have that much power. The reason I am pro-capitalism is because it is the system that has worked thus far, and if it goes to hell then humanity itself did it. I am pro-capitalism because it gives people what they deserve. To believe in capitalism is to believe in humanity - I don't need some Russian flapper with a penchant for loooooooong speeches given by idealized caucasians to tmake me realize that. Libertarians and Objectivists love to spew at democrats but they really are the parties of discontent, bile and acerbity - and while Americans will never accept the label of socialism, they'll accept it as long as it comes under a different veneer. The rugged, individualist red states take more tax money than statist, elitist blue states, and operational conservatives are outnumbered by socialists identifying themselves as conservatives. By their fruits ye shall know them.