How to explain things to libertarians
Chris Clarke, over at Pandagon, points out what he sees as the issues with Libertarianism as it currently stands. Don't know if I agree with everything he says, but a couple of the points look telling.
Chris Clarke, over at Pandagon, points out what he sees as the issues with Libertarianism as it currently stands. Don't know if I agree with everything he says, but a couple of the points look telling.
5 comments:
The author rightly points out that extreme Libertarianism is divorced from reality but that point could be argued for any political ideology.
He also states we should be thankful that the government provides roads and schools but, disingenuously does not go into the fact that private schools are generally better than public schools and there have been many canny ideas on roads that minimized government influence.
And there is a thread in his debate which seems to argue against individual rights; e.g., his screed about how the FDA protects you from yourself.
He then goes into a rant against corporations.
To repeat, what he is really arguing against is extreme libertarianism - also called propertarianism. But his arguments come from another extreme and those extremes are equally invalid.
I'd hardly call that disingenous: private schools can limit their enrollment, while public schools need to serve all students, regardless of ability. Publics also need to deal with taxpayers who don't see why they should pay to educate other people's children.
You miss my point. Public schools could be vastly improved if not a protected government institution and subject to better accountability. That would come from competition with the private sector.
You didn't get Garrett's point, John.
How can the public schools compete when the competition can kick out students that cause problems?
Goddamn, Susan. That's a great point.
But public schools can kick out troublemakers. Hell, they kicked out my eldest daughter Paige (long story) who wasn't even that much of a problem.
Different set of rules, I suppose, but that was a great, pithy remark. Made me think.
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