Who are the libertarians rebelling against?

Every once in a while Rand Paul says something that appeals to me and I think maybe I could vote for him just as a protest (if nothing more) to our current corporate run surveillance society; then I read an article like this one and come back to reality.

 


Who then are the libertarians rebelling against? The most powerful sector of the society is corporate America, and it profits and benefits most from the deregulatory and anti-tax measures libertarians champion. That sector of society also happens to own the federal government. Through large campaign donations and aggressive lobbying – the very corruption that libertarians help enable by defending Citizens United and opposing campaign finance reform – they have institutionalized bribery, transforming the legislative process into an auction. Libertarians proclaim an anti-government position, but they are only opposing the last measures of protection that remain in place to prevent the government from full mutation into an aristocracy. By advocating for the removal of all social programs, libertarians are not rebelling, as much as they are reinforcing the prevailing ethos of “bootstrap” capitalism. The poor are responsible for their plight, and therefore deserve no sympathy or assistance.

http://www.alternet.org/youre-not-boss-me-why-libertarianism-childish-sham?akid=12833.310455.dt93rd&rd=1&src=newsletter1032515&t=2

My recollection of De Tocqueville's observations of America are usually more positive than this. Doing a search on his quotes I see he has some pretty sharp comments many of which are uncomfortable to read. Here is a reference to one quote that seems quite apt today.

Many years after the nation’s establishment as an independent republic, President Calvin Coolidge quipped, “The chief business of the American people is business.” It is easy to extrapolate from that unintentional indictment how, in a rejection of alternative conceptions of philosophy and morality, America continually reinforced Alexis De Tocqueville’s prescient 1831 observation, “As one digs deeper into the national character of Americans, one sees that they have sought the value of everything in this world only in the answer to this single question: How much money will it bring in?”

http://www.alternet.org/youre-not-boss-me-why-libertarianism-childish-sham?akid=12833.310455.dt93rd&rd=1&src=newsletter1032515&t=2

They are mostly corporate shills or naive children. The corporate shills want less government so they can pillage the American people. The naive children have never been involved in state and local government and few understand the work of government. Few talk about efficiency and goals, and rather talk about some ivory tower ideal as if we were dealing with the Easter Bunny or Santa to magically make everything right once a democratically elected government is gutted. I have fought government over reach for thirty five years, and I find it gut busting funny to talk to some people who do not even understand.

2seaoat wrote:They are mostly corporate shills or naive children.

Ding, ding, ding!  Tell him what he's won!