Libertarianism: the "Un Communism"

Ovid on 2005-11-13T19:58:09

*Communism*               *Libertarianism*
Property is theft         Property is sacred
Totalitarianism           Any government is bad
Capitalists are baby-     Capitalists are noble
  eating villains           Nietzchean heroes
Workers should rule       Worker activism is evil
The poor are oppressed    The poor are pampered 
                            good-for-nothings

For the longer version, you can read What's wrong with libertarians.

Or again, for a shorter version, here's my only slightly tongue-in-cheek take:

Anarchist

Unemployed Libertarian

Libertarian

Employed Anarchist

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Objectivist?

gizmo_mathboy on 2005-11-14T01:25:12

It seems that what is being labeled as Libertarian is more like Objectivism.

I do like the Anarchist/Libertarian short take.

Re:Objectivist?

Ovid on 2005-11-14T02:03:15

Agreed. I took the Libertarian/Communist description directly from the article. The author does to a certain extent seem to confuse objectists with libertarians though the former might be considered a subclass of the latter.

Still, libertarians and objectivists do share many qualities. The most pervasive is the inability to recognize the cost of information. Information costs and the attendent market distortions are frequently omitted from economic models. It's like planning a rocket launch and ignoring wind shear.

on anarchism

mary.poppins on 2005-11-14T02:02:37

The term "anarchist" gets applied to a lot of different things. As an anarchist communist whose views on human nature were largely shaped by my experiences as a worker in various companies, I think your description of "anarchist"s seems directed at someone other than me. But I'm not sure what your point is.

Re:on anarchism

Ovid on 2005-11-14T02:05:07

It was a joke. Like many jokes, its humor stems from a bit of reality being tossed in there.