Anyone else here a left-leaning libertarian?

[Starks]

Or am I a lone wolf among the hardcores?

 

[mhipshir]

Hey Starks,

No, I am sort of conservative, (but not _a_ conservative), but it's ok. I can empathize and sympathize with a lot of issues that my friends on the left have. As a matter of fact, I have said on many occasions over the past six or seven years that I feel like I have more in common with the left than I do with the current (neo)-conservatives running the show! Welcome friend. I am glad to have you as a fellow traveler! Perhaps we can have some spirited debates over issues as we work together to rescue our country from the brink

Cheers, mdh

 

[beerista]

Or am I a lone wolf among the hardcores?

How do you define "left-leaning libertarian?"

 

[Starks]

How do you define "left-leaning libertarian?"

For some reason, I sympathize with progressive ideas. However, I feel that politicians ruin them with poor implementation and how they sell these ideas to the public.

Take universal health care for example, the manner in which Hillary or Edwards plan to implement it is deeply flawed.

The proper way to sell the idea is to make it a state/local level service that is opt-in and is paid for through taxes, by only those who wish to participate or receive the services. The quality of said services would be wholly reliant on what people choose to put into it.

Additionally, the deeply flawed yet capitalist health care system we currently have wouldn't have be destroyed in order to achieve this. Ideally, private and "socialized" systems should be able to function together if implemented properly.

 

[Kregener]

EEK!

Universal Health Care!!!!

Run!

 

[V-rod]

The poor would still suffer under a universal health system.

 

[beerista]

For some reason, I sympathize with progressive ideas. However, I feel that politicians ruin them with poor implementation and how they sell these ideas to the public.

Take universal health care for example, the manner in which Hillary or Edwards plan to implement it is deeply flawed.

The proper way to sell the idea is to make it a state/local level service that is opt-in and is paid for through taxes, by only those who wish to participate or receive the services. The quality of said services would be wholly reliant on what people choose to put into it.

Additionally, the deeply flawed yet capitalist health care system we currently have wouldn't have be destroyed in order to achieve this. Ideally, private and "socialized" systems should be able to function together if implemented properly.

I think most of us sympathize with the same things generally. I care about the plight of the poor, the sick, and the downtrodden. I just happen to care about them too much to want to government to get its hands on them.
I think that a stumbling block to "both sides" (yuck, don't tell anyone I used that term) understanding each other is to falsely believe that we care about different things. The difference is merely in what methods we'd each choose to help.

 

[BillyBeer]

No, I am a Paleoconservative. Paul is best candidate since Pat Buchanan.

 

[Starks]

The poor would still suffer under a universal health system.

To an extent, that goes without saying.

While politicians can promise universal health care, promising a certain quality of service is going to be extremely difficult.

 

[JosephTheLibertarian]

federal level:

illegal immigration left to states

abortion left to states

Roe vs Wade sounds ok...right now. I'm not understanding the points against it.

I'd like a Constitutional ban on the death penalty

I'm for a strong national defense; that's always important

I'm against ban on same sex marriage

I'd prefer free market currency - alternatively, I'll take a gold & silver standard

I'm against federal subsidies

I'm against corporate welfare

I'm against foreign aid

I'm against membership in multinational organizations that don't serve our interests

I'm for free trade and travel

I'm against gun control

I'm against income tax

I'm leaning towards a voluntary system of taxation

state level:

open borders

no welfare

no death penalty

voluntary taxation

militias are cool with me

repeal tons of laws

deregulation

end of public transportation

legalization of all drugs

legalization of gambling

legalization of prostitution

free market

prochoice

free market education (and everything)

I'm sort of leaning towards LTV (land value tax) these days

an up to date national guard

more law enforcement to patrol the streets

end of state licensing of marriage

no corporate status/welfare

hmm did I say no gun control?

no mandate to hire women/minorities

against income tax

 

[johngr]

The poor would still suffer under a universal health system.

There hasn't been free market health care since the mid 1800s.

There hasn't been a free market in anything since 1913.

 

[expatinireland]

I would put myself in the left leaning camp.

I am not in favour of the Federal Government stipulating when life begins.

A woman's health care decisions are a matter for her and her physician.

Even though I do not support Ron Paul on the abortion issue our Federal Government has gotten so out of control with regards to foreign policy, monetary and fiscal issues and these are of such paramount importance that I will support Ron Paul in his Presidential bid none the less.

I live in Ireland and find it refreshing living in a society where the police on the beat do not carry firearms.

As a matter of principal I support restrictions on firearms with regards to convicted criminals and the mentally impaired and cooling off periods on purchasing weapons. I do have mixed emotions here as I see the current occupant of the Whitehouse as one of the best arguments to staunchly defend the right of all citizens to hold and bear arms.

On crime I am a supporter of the death penalty and heavy sentencing for repeat offenders but also believe more emphasis should be put on early intervention with troubled youths and intensive rehabilitative efforts with first time offenders.

I believe education should be left to the states but believe that the Federal government should mandate that all districts should be put on an equal footing with regards to funding.

With regards to taxation, I am open to suggestions. I believe the IRS has no position in law. At the same time the fiscal mess that has developed over the past few decades and has accelerated under our spendthrift addict son-of-a-rich-man president needs to be straightened out. I also believe that the Federal Government needs to have the flexibility with fiscal tools to level the playing field between rich and poor parts of the nation.

Well that's about it for now.

 

[trispear]

Sort of Starks.

I support a Ron Paul Federal Government (minimal) with the states competing in 50 different democracies to give their citizens a choice and to promote competition to make the best democracy/republic possible - if that means some states be socialist and some libertarian and some in the middle - so be it.

It's a far better road in my opinion than a one size fits all approach. The only thing I would mandate is that states can't siphon money off each other through the Federal Government to fund their libertarian or socialist paradise - it all has to come from internal funds.

 

[jason43]

I think that socailized programs could be best provided at the local level. If a town has a homeless problem, they could deal with it with a "socialized" program at that level. This way, the rest of the country doesn't have to pay for it and it can be gotten rid of if it is not effective. I think that is the way that the Constitution was supposed to work. If it is not mentioned in the Constitution, then it is a states issue. And if we dropped most federal taxes, states/localities could adjust accordingly to pay for what we need. This would also provide you with competing methods of solving problems. "

Cali did it this way, Virginia did it that way and VA's system worked better so lets develop a system like theirs."

This would give you maximum effeciency to deal with problems without the federal burocracy.

I sympatize with the left, but I don't think their solutions work. I am interested in helping the poor, but I am not interested in putting them into the federal machine to do so... because they rarely come out better off.

That said, in my own votes, I would vote to have my state/locality be as libertarian as possible.

I guess I am a federalist/constitutionalist? I identify some with both paleo-conservatives and libertarians, Goldwater and Reagan... well Reagan's ideals in 1964. Google Reagans 1964 speech "a time for choosing" that pretty much sums it up.

 

[evadmurd]

The way I see it, there are basically 3 people running for president. A communist (Kucinich), a constitutional conservative (the good Dr. P), and everyone else.

I am a Ron Paul Conservative.

 

[expatinireland]

I am a Ron Paul Conservative.

What is a Ron Paul Conservative?

Does that mean we agree with every position the good doctor takes or are there certain core issues that define Ron Paul's conservatism.

I stand behind his monetary and foreign policy positions amongst others but take exception to his stance on abortion which policy I believe should be reserved to the individual ideally and state government worst case.

 

[BuddyRey]

Or am I a lone wolf among the hardcores?

Starks, you're far from the lone wolf here! I also consider myself a left-libertarian, and there are a surprising amount of us out there, even though we don't seem to have a substantive "voice" in the movement yet. There are actually a few folks working within the LP trying to make it a little more hospitable to a broader range of libertarians, and, once they do, I have every expectation that they will grow by leaps and bounds. Just as there are different sub-species of liberals and conservatives (fiscal, social, foreign policy, etc.), there are so many different schools of libertarianism that it's dizzying to try and take it all in at once. I still don't know WHAT the Heck I am!

 

[Wendi]

I don't tend to fit neatly into "categories." What issues are important to you? Where do you stand on them?

 

[TexMac]

Anyone else here a left-leaning libertarian?

Or am I a lone wolf among the hardcores?

Me.

[SIZE=+5]Alliance of the Libertarian Left[/SIZE]

 

[murrayrothbard]

The proper way to sell the idea is to make it a state/local level service that is opt-in and is paid for through taxes, by only those who wish to participate or receive the services. The quality of said services would be wholly reliant on what people choose to put into it.

If your system would only be paid for by the people that want to be a part of it then why the heck is the government required to do it?