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this post was submitted on 31 Jul 2025
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Asklemmy
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When I was young and in college I thought I was a Libertarian because it wasn't big government, and that libertarians were in favor of legalizing weed and gay marriage, basically letting people do what they want without the government regulating it. At the time around 2008ish, the Libertarian party really was leaning hard into that part, while leaving out the whole wanting to privatize everything. I had to get a bit older and more mature to realize that libertarians want to make every tax payer funded program function more like our fucked up healthcare system. Libertarians think that the fire department should be an opt in subscription service like it was in the 1800s. Fucking dipshits the lot of them.
The right to be fucking stupid and do without or to do it yourself shouldn't be denied. It's why I self host stuff. I also have the right to be fucking stupid and not backup any of my systems, but I do my backups myself. Though if I was in a position to have a better fire control situation than my local solution, you damn right I wouldn't want to pay for the inferior service. The same goes for any other utility or public service.
The whole idea of libertarianism is to take the power away from government and abolish it so that the people can be left the fuck alone. The government is just another monopoly in my view especially in the area of currency and violence.
You're just creating more monopolies, with no oversight and less control. At least with government, you can vote.
I'm firmly of the opinion that government regulations create monopolies. Before all the car safety and fuel efficiency regulations there were many car manufacturers in the US. Then as more regulations were added over time, we were down to just 3 manufacturers and they all made shitboxes in the 80s and 90s that didn't last and nobody liked and gave rise to foreign manufacturers coming in and eating the big 3's lunch.
My point is that the big 3 were the only ones that could afford those regulations and were also the ones to lobby the government to pass those regulations to drive their competitors out or force mergers. Advancements in safety and fuel efficiency would have happened anyway. This is the case where advertising can be actually helpful by showing off their products advancement in safety and efficiency to drive their sales. Volvo giving away their patent for seatbelts is another example of a way way to get goodwill and generate sales from that goodwill while keeping competition healthy.
With no government, there would be no need to vote. I'm sick and tired of every election being tHe MosT iMPorTaNt eLecTiOn oF OuR liFeTiME. I'd be fine with the absolute bare minimum of government if it meant the people we elect would not have the power to abuse in the first place.
So it sounds like you would rather trust companies to put the health and safety of its consumers over the government forcing it?
It's really a matter of trusting companies to put the health and safety of consumers over short term profits for shareholders, without government forcing them to. Which we all know rarely happens.
No, I trust in the collective wisdom of the masses to generally make the best decisions.