The reason I'm having a hard time answering is because what your asking is so convuluuted and obscure.
Ask me a question straight out. I believe you're asking me why it is I'm not more "philosophical" but rather express my libertarianism by "grass roots political activism," right? And how did I come to that? I can tell you I had never heard of Mises, Rand, Hazlitt, Hayek, or Rothbard until I met Nick Dunbar and Dianne Pilcher straight out of the Navy, in Jacksonville, Florida. I was active in the local ACLU and most especially the local chapter of the National Abortion Rights League. Nick met me at an ACLU meeting at the Jax Unitarian Church and invited me to a Libertarian Party meeting. Of course, I gladly accepted. Told Nick I was already a Libertarian cause I voted straight LP absentee while in the Persian Gulf in 2002. (Interesting side story. There were 380 guys on my ship the USS Luce - a guided missile destroyer. A Lt. JG was in charge of the "Vote Campaign" on the ship. He got a grand total of 2 people, himself and little ole' me to vote absentee from the entire ship. Not even the friggin' Captain voted!!! in 1982. Is that insane or what???) Well, anyway, I told Nick I considered myself to be a "Pro-Choice Republican"; I hated the Religious Right, Pro-Choice was my issue, I supported drug legalization, and I hated drinking age laws. On Economics I told Nick that I liked Milton Friedman's Free to Choose style of economics. On foreign policy I told Nick that I was a hardcore Military guy; kick ass and take names. But that I was much more concerned with the threat from the Muslims and Arabs than I was from the Soviet Union. He told me that I was "a natural" for the Libertarian Party, and handed me a couple Ayn Rand books, Mises, Hayek, Hazlitt, Nozick. Read them all in two to three months, then ordered more from Laissez Faire Books. That's my philosophical story. Hope that answers your question. --- In [email protected], "mark robert" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > Eric, > > > > I simply fail to see much continuity from my post to yours. I'm > sorry that I'm at such a loss, but I honestly can't see hardly > any coherence or libertarianism or logic in your post(s). > > > > If you read Mises, how do you come to your views (or lack of) on > force and consent? Mises, Rand, Friedman, etc do NOT reinforce > them. If you are a meat and potatoes libertarian, how could you > have read them? > > > > Exactly how did I "hit on" the idea that libertarianism is far > too philosophical and dogmatic? The accusation against the > movement is also untrue. Libertarian philosophy is the most > logical, therefore easy to understand. Most people get it without > reading volumes or deep contemplation; which begs even more > suspicion about your glaring "meat and potatoes" philosophical > deficits. > > > > -Mark > > > > > > ************ > {American jurors have complete Constitutional authority to vote > "not guilty" based on nothing more than a disagreement with the > case, no matter the evidence - despite the judge's instructions. > There is absolutely no obligation to vote "guilty" to arrive at a > unanimous verdict. Get on a jury, stand your ground, and fulfill > its other main purpose: to counteract abusive government and > unjust lawsuits. > See www.fija.org > [Please adopt this as your own signature.] } > > > > > _____ > > > > I'm a meat and potatos advocate of libertarianism. My > libertarianism comes instinctively from the gut. > > Yeah, I've read Mises, Rand, Rothbard, Hayek, Friedman (my > favorite), Hazlitt, Nozick, Hospers, you name it. They just > serve > to reinforce the beliefs that I already have. > > You've actually hit on something quite brillant. IMHO the > biggest > problem the libertarian movement has these days is that it's far > too > philosophical and dogmatic. We can't seem to relate to "meat and > > potatos libertarianism" like that of the Reform Party/Perotista > crowd. > > As soon as we get a recruit into a more consistent libertarianism > and most especially LP ranks, we hit them over the head with > ises. "Hey, you gotta read this, you gotta read that..." > > Why can't we accept that people sympathetic to libertariansim are > out there who are not deeply contemplative and there's absolutely > no need to turn them on to being book worms. Accept them for who > they are. > > > > > > > _____ > > > > [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] > ForumWebSiteAt http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Libertarian Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Libertarian/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
