Listening to everything the GOP and Libertarians have to say, I have to say I viamently disagree with the direction they want to take America. They are a very selfish group.
Paul Ryan, the father of a Republican budget initiative that seeks to destroy Medicare and Social Security has continually invoked the name of Ayn Rand as his philosophical mentor and guide. Many other Republicans have do so too. They are embracing a philosophy which, according to Ayn Rand herself, is one of selfishness and is against all forms of Spirituality. The question any thoughtful Americans must ask themselves is: “Is this the America we want?”
And how do they get evangelicals to go along with them is beyond me.
Its a very selfish every man for himself mentality.
And Libertarians don't believe in the Commons. What are the Commons?
The Commons are resources that are owned by all of us. That includes the Grand Canyon, oil rights, power companies, roads, public airwaves, schools, etc.
Here is how they think. Libertarians think if we all own the land on which our sheep graze, we will each add one too many sheep until we destroy the land for future generations. That We the People can't manage the commons.
Libertarians think that if one person owns the land and charged everyone else grazing fees, he would be more committed to preserving it for the future than a village of farmers.
I disagree.
Truly a bizarre rant that actually has little to do with reality! It is always pretty easy to make claims about what you don't like about someone's views -when you don't even understand them! This is a long response but I've really had enough of leftwing kooks pretending they know and and understand either conservatism or libertarianism and ALWAYS insisting it is just people who want to be SELFISH. In truth it is people wanting the personal best for others -in ways that really is best.
Conservatism or libertarianism is NOT about selfishness but about individualism. These are NOT one and the same thing and it is a massive lie and disservice to our entire species to pretend it is!
The left claims to be the spokesman for "minorities" but the individual is the smallest minority there is. You can't claim to be pro-minority but anti-individual because in practice and reality, it means anti-human being. Liberalism (not libertarianism) is based on a fundamentally flawed principle. It doesn't matter if you want to discuss US liberalism, European socialism or communism -they all suffer from the identical built-in fatal flaw that insures it not only will not work but will increase human misery as it goes about proving over and over and over again that it will not work. Liberals refuse to believe that fatal flaw exists and no amount of rational or reasoned debate is ever allowed to make a dent in their hardened minds. They are totally convinced that given just ONE more chance, they can make it work -and when it fails again, they will insist they need one MORE chance and again and again. The entire ideology is a cancer on the soul of humanity even as it poses as "caring".
But here is the fatal flaw all spelled out for you. It is entirely based on what liberals WISH was human nature instead of what it really is. Any system that seeks to remake human nature instead of understanding true human nature and then figuring out how to best exploit REALITY for the common good -will increase human misery. The US became the wealthiest and most powerful nation in man's history NOT because of our government and not because we stole it from the rest of the world. Unlike the rest of the world, we unleashed the power of the individual to make of his life what he will -and figured out how to exploit that for the greatest good. People won't bust their ass for no reward and they won't bust their ass for the "faceless masses" -but they will bust their ass to improve their own life and the lives of their loved ones. THAT is human nature and THAT is unchangeable. And unlike every other system ours exploits that real human nature for the greatest good. We didn't do it by SOCIALISM -but because we figured out how to exploit the value of individualism for the greatest good as well as the individual's good! YOU CAN'T HAVE ONE WITHOUT THE OTHER!
No such thing as a "greater good" but one that is not good for the individual -and THAT is something the left not only doesn't understand at all -it REJECTS. Safety nets are for those who can't provide for themselves whether they cannot do so ever or just temporarily. It is NOT for those who WON'T provide for themselves. But we have allowed that change in this country where all of a sudden people are told they can't possibly expect to live unless government is PROVIDING for them. Of course "providing" only means TAKING from some and handing it out to those who didn't earn it -but now government is doing that even if they could have provided for themselves and WOULD have done so were they not told they were ENTITLED to have others foot their bills instead. If you believe half the population is incapable of providing for themselves without government handouts and entitlements, you must believe our species is very fragile -yet about half the population is receiving some form of entitlement. Government does this by first TAKING it from individuals and then giving some of it back -when in fact it was the individual's money to begin with! But now the individual perceives it as coming from government -when it was really theirs to begin with and taken from them. In fact we are the most adaptable species on earth which is why we are also the most successful species on earth.
We are inherently capable and our own history has proven again and again and again -that the overwhelming vast majority of us can and would provide for themselves -and it is society itself that benefits as well as the individual and that combination provides for the GREATEST good -when they do! Not greater good -the GREATEST good. It is THE key to our success as a people and a nation -and NOT government confiscation and redistribution of our incomes!
It is a hard reality that we are not all equally talented, equally ambitious, equally intelligent, equally attractive etc etc. Life is unfair and it will always be unfair. It is not government's job to make life fair -because it can't ever make life fair and the ONLY possible equal outcome government can produce -is to make everyone equally miserable. ALL attempts by government to force an equal outcome or even try to make life "fair" have actually resulted in even greater unfairness. The best government can do is to EASE the unfairness but it will never eliminate it and will have the best success helping those most in need when it keeps that in mind.
The founders rejected the kind of government control and power the left seeks because it makes government our master and we its slaves as government owned property. I don't exist for the benefit of government -it exists for MINE and not to GIVE me stuff I happen to covet at any given time. The kind of government the left seeks cannot exist unless the individual is stripped of rights -and never returned. It is done in the name of providing for the greater good -but at the expense of the individual which automatically means it is NOT the greater good! It requires an authoritarian government that is based on the ridiculous notion that government (ruling elite) knows what is in your best interests better than you do. It is a declaration that people are not only incompetent and stupid, but they can't be trusted to make good decisions on their own behalf. Do you feel that is true about YOU? You must first believe it to be true about YOU before insisting it is true of everyone else as well. And I know you don't believe a faceless bureaucracy actually gives a shit about you at all much less knows better than you what is in your own best interests. Then where do you get off assuming it must be true of OTHERS -just not you. And we know for a fact that isn't true about others either -otherwise our own system of government would have collapsed in less than a century. Instead it thrived. The left rejects the fundamental principle that since it is MY life, it is MINE to run as I see fit for better or ill -not government's.
The US is among the youngest of nations -yet has the longest continuing form of government on the planet. Governments collapse when they fail to satisfy a critical mass. That means our system satisfied far more of OUR people better and longer than any other system known to man. And we figured out how to exploit it for the greater good for the specific purpose of having as few as possible on the bottom. Liberalism operates on the basis that lots of people on the bottom is actually more fair -misery loves company kind of thinking. But conservatism and libertarians believe in a system where as few as possible are on the bottom and as individuals are encouraged to strive for their own success. Having as few as possible on the bottom can't happen by encouraging and rewarding perfectly normal, healthy adults to sit back and wait for government to "take care" of them and resent those who succeed -and then insist they are more entitled to the fruits of their labor than the person who busted his ass to earn it.
A system that encourages and rewards people for being self sufficient, independent, contributing members of society not only works -it provably works better than any other system in existence! How is it "selfish" to encourage normal, healthy adults to be contributing members of society for their OWN best interests? Encouraging and rewarding people to strive for success as THEY define it for themselves, not as government or some ruling elite pretends it is to be defined -WORKS and it works a hell of a lot better than *******, doomed, fatally flawed socialism which has only produced THE most brutal, inhumane, lethal regimes in modern history that slaughtered ITS OWN PEOPLE by the MILLIONS! Which is what happens when the leftist model of government starts to fail and clings to power -it can only cling to power by turning on its own citizens. It doesn't have the power to turn on its own citizens -until the population has lost their own power and rights. You avoid being attacked and killed by your own government by refusing to EVER give it enough power to do so!
What you call "selfishness" is a system that encourages people to be productive, self sufficient, contributing members of society instead of parasites on the system -for their own good and the greatest good of society itself. WHICH IS PROVABLY BETTER FOR THE INDIVIDUAL? Who in their right mind would encourage anyone to believe the best they can do is to just sit back and wait for next month's check and wait for the next politician to tell them what they want to hear -that they have a greater right to the fruits of labor of others than those who actually worked to earn it -and that unless government confiscates ever more, they just aren't paying their "fair share" to those who didn't earn it. You can't provide a greater good for society by increasing the harm government does to the individual! Choose -either you believe people can and should be capable, self sufficient individuals contributing members of society for their own personal benefit -or you don't. The kind of government you seek is entirely hinged on that fundamental belief. But it isn't success to attach yourself to society as a parasite sucking its lifeblood and demanding your host open its veins wider for you. Parasites kill when they feed too heavily on their victim host and we are fast approaching critical mass for the percentage of our society being carried by the rest. Which again, is NOT the greater good! Success hinges on the individual and if the individual is self sufficient, contributing member, the better society itself is and the better that society provides for their OWN! If my neighbor is self sufficient, GOOD FOR HIM and GOOD FOR ME! Why would ANYONE want a system where success is resented, demonized, and people expected to be ashamed and apologize for it?
The left phonily claims this is their goal as well -but it isn't. Theirs is to empower the state and give it greater control over the individual -which can only happen by stripping him of his rights, forcing him to look to government for his sustenance instead of himself. Why would ANYONE with an ounce of compassion want to see human beings exist in such a state? They claim just using touchy feely words means they actually care more -but their own policies are designed to enslave the individual and insist government has first claim to the fruits of our labor. You either wish to exist as government owned property, RULED over by our own creation -or you believe yourself to be a citizen who gives his CONSENT to be governed as long as government abides by YOUR rules! This is American exceptionalism -it makes us the exception to how our species historically has existed and the exception to how people today exist. We exist as CITIZENS who CONSENT to be governed. Everyone else exists as SUBJECTS to be RULED over. (The fact Obama thought the phrase was merely some kind of empty bragging instead of referring to a very real human condition is APPALLING and SHOCKING. He is the first President to not even know what it means! No doubt because he wasn't raised here and never encouraged to understand and adopt American values.)
Liberals must destroy American exceptionalism in order to impose their preferred system -which cannot exist with a population that retains the right to consent to be governed -and the right to withdraw that consent. Liberalism MUST make people subjects to be ruled over, who must do as they are told, with a ruling elite claiming to know their best interests better than they do, and able to run their lives better than they can. No one who values their OWN freedom would ever agree with such a premise -but liberals actually place very little value on freedom. Especially on the freedom of OTHERS.
Americans personally contribute more money to the victims of natural disasters around the world than ANY other population on the planet. And contribute far more than is contributed by our government and more than the governments of other nations. Do you really not understand why that is? Individualism actually encourages people to CARE about each other AS INDIVIDUALS and PERSONALLY take responsibility to help each other out. There is no close second to the good this nation has done by creating a system that is first and foremost a declaration that says there is nothing more inherently valuable than the value of the individual himself. Does YOUR life matter to you? Do you really think your life matters more to you than mine does to me? Who do you think should be making the important and routine decisions in your life? You or government? What you answer for yourself -is what others answer as well and you have no right to demand they forfeit their own judgment to an INSTITUTION created by man but easily turns into a Frankenstein monster unless kept under tight control with minimal powers to do mischief.
Seriously -we are the only nation on the planet with this system of government. It has been wildly successful and outlasted every other known form of government in existence for a reason. The more self sufficient, independent, successful citizens -the greater the upward pressure on both standard of living and incomes for everyone else, especially those on the bottom. We ALL benefit the more people who succeed -people are far and away more likely to succeed when they are unleashed and encouraged to do so as INDIVIDUALS.
Why the hell would I want to trade that in for an historically proven FAILURE of a system, one that fails to satisfy a critical mass of their own population for very long and one doomed to a far earlier collapse than our own? I have yet to hear ANY liberals give a rational explanation for dumping our system for one we already know doesn't work, is doomed to collapse and will provably increase human misery as it does. Not one.
Apparenly so. Are you from the south?
