What are some criticisms of Libertarianism?

Most Libertarians want to privatize most of the government...education, police, fire department, and so on, but don't realize how expensive it would be to do so. There'd be more crime if you privatized the police. Think about it: People would go and rob poor people because poor people can't afford police service so they wouldn't call the police. That would breed crime amongst the poor like 10 fold, and then some. It's very very unrealistic to have a government stripped down to the extreme ultra bare minimum and expect that basic needs can be handled by the private sector in a reliable affordable way. It's not a well thought out ideology. They want their lives to stay the same, but make huge drastic changes to it...huh?

Most libertarians don't have enough money to survive in a world where their basic needs are 100% privatized. They talk the talk but could they walk the walk? No. Most libertarians are just people who take the government for granted...whining crying spoiled cry babies who wouldn't want what they're asking for if they got it. They just talk tough for show, but they only do it because they know that it'll never happen. It' fun to look tough wanting something extreme when you know you wouldn't really want it if you got it but have no reason to worry about that happening anyway.

Libertarianism is a great example of "be careful what you wish for..."

I would have to agree with Hobs, getting Libertarians to organize is like trying to herd cats. It also bothers me when they either don't vote ("it's not going to change anything") or vote for statists ("he's not as bad as the other guy"). This complaint however, falls into the whole trying to herd cats complaint.

This is a really enlightening thread, apparently I'm a crazy, Ayn Rand worshiping, racist, pothead (not sure if someone's mentioned that one yet but it usually comes up in these sort of threads) who hates roads and education. The reality is, I'm just a individual who thinks the government is way too intrusive in all areas of our lives - from the bedroom to the pocketbook. The warmongering Republicans and Dems (yes Dems, you've started your "fair share" of wars) are destroying this country from the inside out.

GARY JOHNSON Be Libertarian With Me

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2X3QRSIXgns&feature...

The Libertarian Party and libertarians put special emphasis on and have great reverence for the free market. We believe that a free market will create better products and services, result in lower prices and achieve a higher level of customer satisfaction.

So when someone tells you a libertarian wants to cut some dear social service...it isn't because they're cold-hearted. It's because we believe the goals would be better achieved through a system of voluntary transactions, where people decide for themselves what to do with their money, instead of a system of coerced transactions.

If you're just starting out, you ought to go read Ron Paul's Liberty Defined: 50 Essential Issues That Affect Our Freedom. It's good for beginners

Then you can move on to books by Rothbard, Spooner, Locke, Woods and so on.

You can be a Libertarian and not agree with all aspects of the platform. There are Conservative Democrats and Liberal Republicans who, while they may not agree with all aspects of their party platform, are usually connected with them for one strong reason or such. I agree with them on some things; I disagree with them on the role of government. I do believe in limits in government, but I do believe that the government has some roles to play, it's not all bad, a moderate government per say. They also tend to have controversial views on investing in education. I believe in a strong military, but to me closing down some foreign bases is a good idea given they serve us little purpose. And we do need to design a plan to get out of these wars in a timely manner. Just giving a little of my personal beliefs also. Take a political calculator test, it will show you where you fit in the political spectrum, they can be really helpful! Just google it and some should come up!

The only criticism I have of libertarianism is that libertarians are hard to politically organize. They put principles over other motives and therefore the differences among even libertarians can make it hard to get them together to support a common cause.

Other than that, I think they are right about the social safety net. The government is not good at providing a social safety net. They more often than not do more harm to the people they claim they are trying to help. I'd rather the people keep that money instead of the government and take care of themselves.

Ask any libertarian to answer specific questions and you will find that most of them have no idea what libertarianism is all about .

The URL is exhaustive in it's critique of Ayn Rand's philosophy

My primary criticism of Libertarianism is that it doesn't believe in a social safety net, and it doesn't believe in government investment in emerging technologies. America's global superiority was caused by huge government investments in Radio, TV, Internet, and the computer.

It's a completely unrealistic economic philosophy considering the market has never self regulated itself in the history of mankind.

They are racists and hatefilled. They don't like education, and they don't like roads and children. They are oppressors of the 99% and the proletariat. Capitlalism is illogical and racist.

good one