"That is not a Republican ideal, that is an Libertarian ideal!"
If you mean that the Republicans don't openly claim it as one of their operating principles and a worthwhile goal, end, ideal of its own, then yes, perhaps you've got a limited point there, but if you think that the spirit of that is not frequently found and embraced by many Republicans/Republican pols, I'd say you're mistaken. Take Jonah "Pantsload" Goldberg (aka "Lucianne's Boy") at National Review, and his ilk in that realm. He aligns himself with many libertarian ideas and principles, including the "greed is good" concept, but obviously, he's still a Republican and votes accordingly.
"Libertarians are not remotely Republicans, even if left-wingers want to demonize them as such.
In the view of left-wingers, Libertarians are actually even more dangerous, because unlike Republicans, they would gut a lot of government funding and control."
Well, if you're talking about the Libertarian PARTY vs. the Republican PARTY, that is tecnically true, but there are various incarnations of libertarian philosophies, and they can run from the right to the left of the political spectrum. From what I've read there is not, as of yet, one single, unified theory and political philosophy for Libertarianism. I've witnessed, both personally and in print, considerable disagreement among Libertarians on a variety of issues. While I would almost certainly never consider joining a Libertarian party, I do consider myself to lean in a libertarian direction on many social issues. For more on how libertarians can exist on the left or right, see here:
http://www.politicalcompass.org/reading
and be sure to check the homepage and some of the other parts of that site, including the interesting quiz, too.
Myself, I've known libertarians who range from the right to the left, but it does seem like more often they are right of center than left.
As for John Stossel, the most interesting thing I ever read about him is this, which makes him really sound like the most cynical opportunist ever. And it doesn't even address his problematic moustache:
http://www.thenation.com/doc/20020107/dowie
If you mean that the Republicans don't openly claim it as one of their operating principles and a worthwhile goal, end, ideal of its own, then yes, perhaps you've got a limited point there, but if you think that the spirit of that is not frequently found and embraced by many Republicans/Republican pols, I'd say you're mistaken. Take Jonah "Pantsload" Goldberg (aka "Lucianne's Boy") at National Review, and his ilk in that realm. He aligns himself with many libertarian ideas and principles, including the "greed is good" concept, but obviously, he's still a Republican and votes accordingly.
"Libertarians are not remotely Republicans, even if left-wingers want to demonize them as such.
In the view of left-wingers, Libertarians are actually even more dangerous, because unlike Republicans, they would gut a lot of government funding and control."
Well, if you're talking about the Libertarian PARTY vs. the Republican PARTY, that is tecnically true, but there are various incarnations of libertarian philosophies, and they can run from the right to the left of the political spectrum. From what I've read there is not, as of yet, one single, unified theory and political philosophy for Libertarianism. I've witnessed, both personally and in print, considerable disagreement among Libertarians on a variety of issues. While I would almost certainly never consider joining a Libertarian party, I do consider myself to lean in a libertarian direction on many social issues. For more on how libertarians can exist on the left or right, see here:
http://www.politicalcompass.org/reading
and be sure to check the homepage and some of the other parts of that site, including the interesting quiz, too.
Myself, I've known libertarians who range from the right to the left, but it does seem like more often they are right of center than left.
As for John Stossel, the most interesting thing I ever read about him is this, which makes him really sound like the most cynical opportunist ever. And it doesn't even address his problematic moustache:
http://www.thenation.com/doc/20020107/dowie
Oh, well