You're fun. Paul wrote:
> First, Ido not advocate anarchism. I advocate libertarianism. Depending on who is doing the defining, they could be the same thing. I'd ask you for your definition, but that seems an unprofitable approach. You are the guy who thinks that tariffs aren't coercive but other sales taxes are, right? > Second, the plege ensures that those who join are consistent with > libertarianism, not anarchism. It says that those who join adhere to > the NAP which is the core belief of libertarianism. Ah. That's not quite a definition, but it's close enough. Are taxes collected for social or political goals? Are taxes coercive? That is to say, do they violate the N.A.P.? If so, I'd say that using that definition of libertarianism makes it pretty much the same as anarchism. <http://www.dictionary. com> Is it possible for someone to lie, and sign the pledge/oath/credo/whatnot even though they don't believe what it means? (Whatever that is...) > I'd rather be small and principled than big and not (like the > Republicans and Democrats). I will never sacrifice our principles in > the name of growth, and that's exactly what getting rid of the pledge > would do. It would open the door for people who refuse to join with > the pledge; mostly because they don't believe in non-interventionism, > or the non-aggression principle and therefore don't belong in the LP. I'm thinking you're pretty small, all right. Oh, you meant the number of LP members. (Or did you mean voters for Libertarian candidates?) See question about lying, above. Well, if you're right, there's no point in trying to achieve anything politically via the LP. It will never have more than a few tens of thousands of members. Well, "never" is too strong a claim. Better: Won't have that many members before the Social Security "trust fund" goes empty. In fact, if the meaning you ascribe to the LP's oath/pledge/credo/whatnot (AKA o/p/c/w) ever becomes the undisputed meaning, "tens of thousands" is too big a number. People who are opposed to all taxation are relatively rare in the United States, and those who are willing to join a political party are rarer still. > When you mention that you were talking to someone who has had to "deal > with me" for some time, I'm sure it was someone like Bruce Cohen, or > Eric Dondero. What are they like? (Not that it matters, really. You're the fascinating one.) I'm just curious. > The goal of the LP is to clean up Washington, but we can't clean up > the house of representatives until our own house is clean. Those who > don't believe in the non-aggression principle don't belong in the > party and do nothing to further the cause of liberty. Really? What does "clean up Washington" mean? I assume you're speaking metaphorically rather than literally (i.e. not streetsweepers, etc.), and are referring to reforming the federal government, in some way. > I most certainly don't make libertarian advocacy look bad, but those > who claim to be promoting libertarianism and suggest we vote for > Republicans do make us look bad. Those who support a wholly > unwarranted, unprovoked, unconstitutional, unreasonable, and > unlibertarian war in Iraq make the party look bad. I'll go along with the second statement. The first is a matter of opinion. If you're the guy who thinks that tariffs aren't coercive but other sales taxes are, I'm pretty sure a survey of randomly selected folks would provide data in support of the notion that you do. > You've asked me to answer a yes or no question. The ony yes or now > question you asked was the following: > > "Am I reading it correctly? Specifically, is this an accurate > paraphrase?" > > The yes or no answer you're looking for is NO; you are not reading it > correctly and it is not an accurate paraphrase. And the pessimists thought you couldn't do it. Hah! Could you correct that paraphrase, retaining as much of it as you can manage, to enlighten us? I'd quote it, but you had "top-posted" and I deleted the text, which was below. -Eric -- Eric S. Harris If this address ever fails, try visiting http://www.returnpath.net 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/
