Jesus As Reagan's Sidekick

You've got to love those hilarious folks who somehow manage to combine fanatical Christianity with Libertarianism. Of course, one must have no understanding whatsoever of both to believe that they can be upheld simultaneously. (If you are wondering what Jesus would think of free markets, then I'm wondering whether you know anything at all about Jesus.)

So here is a very inventive blog header whose hapless author is trying to resolve the painful contradiction between worshiping free markets and worshiping Jesus:

As we can see, this particular Reagan fan chose to put "Ronnie" first and Jesus second. I kind of feel sorry for Jesus because playing second fiddle to Reagan, of all people, is quite insulting.

P.S. In the very top post of this freaky blog, I found the following sentence that tells us all we'll ever need to know about such folks' scary brand of religiosity:

 I had a lot of sinful years without Christ but God is in the business of forgiving sins.

What I wonder is whether God is successful in business and whether he pays any taxes. I know that Jesus wants us to pay taxes, but does he pay any himself? This is what theologians need to be working on.

Reading Libertarian Blogs

I was told recently that I don't do justice to "true Libertarians" by conflating them with the Tea Partiers. So yesterday I decided to fill this void in my knowledge of Libertarianism and perused a number of Libertarian blogs and websites.

When I fell asleep last night, I had a dream where it turned out that my husband had been given to me by the government for temporary use. As a valuable commodity, he could only be kept by me for a certain period of time, after which I had to hand him over to another person. This, obviously, did not make me very happy. 

So I decided that I'd rather remain ignorant of true Libertarianism than expose myself to any more websites that give me nightmares about governmentally rationed and distributed husbands.

A Third Party Option: Part II

The main paradox of the Libertarian movement in this country is that in their quest for freedom from authority, Libertarians plunge straight into the arms of the Republicans whose desire to control people's bodies and sexualities is their main defining feature. Bringing up these contradictions to the newly-minted Libertarians is a royal waste of time. When I brought the Tea Party's hatred of abortion to a young female Libertarian, her response was, "Yeah, that sucks, but so what? At least they support all other kinds of freedom."
It is quite useless, of course, to try to explain to a Libertarian that without the most basic freedom of all - the freedom to control one's own body - there are no other freedoms. A young woman saddled with a crowd of unwanted children can tug on her bootstraps until the cows come home to absolutely no avail. It is equally impossible to explain to them that the only freedoms their support of their fanatical leaders Sarah Palin and Rand Paul will bring them are the freedom to die needlessly in an unwinnable war, accumulate insane amounts of debt, work themselves into the ground to pay off that debt, and still consider themselves the most fortunate people on Earth.
It has become obvious to all but the most ignorant that there are very few actual differences between the only two political parties we have in this country. Behind the Democratic and the Republican slogans lies the sad reality that they serve the same economic interests. No matter which party comes to power, all we - the regular voters - can expect is more wars, more debt, more unemployment, and more pride in our great good fortune to enjoy these things.
It is not surprising that people are tired to death of choosing the lesser of two evils (and failing every time because evil knows no gradations). The yearning for a third (fourth, fifith, etc.) party option is very easy to understand. It is also very easy to exploit, which the Republicans are doing so well with this Libertarian chimera.
Sarah Palin - the Libertarian commander-in-chief - recently declared that the main focus of attention for the Republicans (who, with the help of Libertarian supporters, will take both the Congress and the Senate) next year should be abortion. These people don't care about unemployment (if you are out of a job, that's your own fault), about the recession that keeps deepening (the markets know what they're doing, so let's just allow them to keep doing it), about the education crisis (the comprehensive public education system is an assault on the individual freedom to be as ignorant as one wants, anyways), about the lack of legitimate life options for the young people (let them make their own options and be more like us, who walked barefoot in the snow to find a grizzly bear we could skin alive), about racism (an individual has a right to be as racist as they want), and so on.
Since all these problems are solved so easily in the Tea Party mentality, they can turn all their energy to the only issue that matters - abortion. Given that they need more and more soldiers to die in unwinnable wars overseas, a surplus of unwanted children will come in very useful. And who cares if the ban on abortion brings the crime rates back to their pre-Roe levels? You can always hire your own army of bodyguards. And if you can't afford it, go do some more bootstrap pulling.
The main thing to remember about the Libertarian movement in this country is that it doesn't exist. It's nothing but a ploy hatched by the Republicans to make some naïve voters believe that there is a legitimate third party alternative.

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Why the Libertarians Should Divorce Themselves from the Republicans

Courtesy of Izgad (a true Libertarian), here is an interesting article on why Libertarians should distance themselves from the Republicans as fast as possible:

A clear-eyed look at conservatism as a whole reveals a political movement with no realistic potential for advancing individual freedom. The contemporary right is so deeply under the sway of its most illiberal impulses that they now define what it means to be a conservative.

What are those impulses?
First and foremost, a raving, anti-intellectual populism, as expressed by (among many, many others) Sarah Palin and Glenn Beck. Next, a brutish nationalism, as expressed in anti-immigrant xenophobia (most recently on display in Arizona) and it’s-always-1938-somewhere jingoism. And, less obvious now but always lurking in the background, a dogmatic religiosity, as expressed in homophobia, creationism, and extremism on beginning- and end-of-life issues. The combined result is a right-wing identity politics that feeds on the red meat of us versus them, “Real America” versus the liberal-dominated coasts, faith and gut instinct versus pointy-headed elitism.
This noxious stew of reaction and ressentiment is the antithesis of libertarianism. The spirit of freedom is cosmopolitan. It is committed to secularism in political discourse, whatever religious views people might hold privately. And it coolly upholds reason against the swirl of interests and passions. History is full of ironies and surprises, but there is no rational basis for expecting an outlook as benighted as the contemporary right’s to produce policy results that libertarians can cheer about.

I couldn't agree more with everything said here. I'm glad to see that there are Libertarians who are clear-headed enough to see that the Tea Party movement does not offer any hope for the advancement of their convictions. This is a bunch of religious fanatics whose talk about their opposition to "Big Government" is code for their hatred of a black president. They are very much in favor of a very strong government when it bans abortion, contraception and gay marriage, invades Iraq, and hands out billions to corporate moochers.

Enough with the Myth that Americans Are Profoundly Libertarian

Because it's simply not true as the following poll shows clearly:

 As for me, the more I make, the more I believe it is fair that I should pay more in taxes than people who make less. Of course, I also prefer that my taxes should go towards making the lives of regular people better instead of funding warfare and enriching Wall Street crooks.

More on the Tea Party Hypocrisy

People don’t want to think. And the deeper they get into trouble, the less they want to think. But by some sort of instinct, they feel that they ought to and it makes them feel guilty. So they’ll bless and follow anyone who gives them a justification for not thinking. Anyone who makes a virtue—a highly intellectual virtue—out of what they know to be their sin, their weakness and their guilt.

                                                                                                                  - Ayn Rand.

The most recent scandal surrounding the increasingly bizarre Sarah Palin is a perfect showcase for yet another instance of egregious hypocrisy on the part of the new breed of Libertarians she represents. This weirdo comes to the California STATE University and charges $100,000 for one of her anti-government spending speeches. I mean, we all know that she is completely brainless but this is too much even for her.

I want to offer yet another quote from Ayn Rand that describes the utterly incompetent Palin perfectly:

What we are now asked to worship, what had once been dressed as God or king, is the naked, twisted, mindless figure of the human Incompetent. This is the new ideal, the goal to aim at, the purpose to live for, and all men are to be rewarded according to how close they approach it. This is the age of the common man, they tell us—a title which any man may claim to the extent of such distinction as he has managed not to achieve. He will rise to a rank of nobility by means of the effort he has failed to make, he will be honored for such virtue as he has not displayed, and he will be paid for the goods which he did not produce. But we—we, who must atone for the guilt of ability—we will work to support him as he orders, with his pleasure as our only reward. Since we have the most to contribute, we will have the least to say. Since we have the better capacity to think, we will not be permitted a thought of our own. Since we have the judgment to act, we will not be permitted an action of our choice. We will work under directives and controls, issued by those who are incapable of working. They will dispose of our energy, because they have none to offer, and of our product, because they can’t produce.

Palin, who is so incompetent that she couldn't even complete her term as governor, now mooches off of the talented students of Cal State, believing that her pleasure should be their only reward. Then, she accuses the students of revealing the truth. What would the founder of Objectivism say about this? Here goes:

A lie is an act of self-abdication, because one surrenders one’s reality to the person to whom one lies, making that person one’s master, condemning oneself from then on to faking the sort of reality that person’s view requires to be faked. And if one gains the immediate purpose of the lie—the price one pays is the destruction of that which the gain was intended to serve. The man who lies to the world, is the world’s slave from then on.

 Any more questions on whether the Tea Party has anything to do with Libertarianism (except being its exact opposite)?

Making Fun of Libertarians

Everybody has probably seen this already but it's so funny that I want to post it as well:

Script:

TITLE: The 24 Types of Libertarian
Balding white guy: no fair oversimplifying our simplistic philosophy!

Caption: NAIVE
Happy guy with goatee: if the government would DISAPPEAR, everyone would act SENSIBLY and we’d all be able to get ALONG!

Caption: PETULANT
Annoyed guy with necktie: libertarians don’t win elections because we’re too PURE and GOOD!

Caption: TOO SMART FOR SCIENCE
Guy with small face on large head: OBVIOUSLY, climate scientists made up global warming. because they’re SOCIALISTS.

Caption: ARROGANT
Smiling woman with “explaining hands”: CLEARLY you’ve never READ the evidence.

Caption: LEFT-WING
Woman in distance, yelling to be heard: I’m HERE! i EXIST! i’m against the goverment AND corporations! why does everyone always ignore me?

Caption: DENIAL-ICAN
Annoyed guy with shaved head and cigarette: just because i’ve voted republican every election for 20 years is no reason to call me a republican!

Caption: MORE LIBERTARIAN THAN THOU
Grinning man with goatee and ponytail: we should PRIVATIZE the police! people who can’t afford to pay the cops won’t have anything worth stealing, anyway.

Caption: TERRIFIED
Frightened, crouching man wearing combat fatigue pants: BIG GOVERNMENT is coming! thank GALT i’ve stockpiled so much AMMO!

Caption: TOO MUCH HEINLEIN
Black guy making big arm gestures: lazarus long said that all men are created UNEQUAL. it’s not MY fault i’m SMARTER than poor people!

Caption: THE ISLAND
Older man in colorful vest and button-up shirt, holding a piece of paper in one hand. An arrow caption pointed at the piece of paper says “social security check.” Two more arrow captions, pointed at the man, say “Public school grad” and “drives on public roads.”
Man: no one ever gave ME anything! so don’t force ME to give to others!

Caption: CREEPY
Man in shadows, wearing sunglasses: why should i have to go all the way to THAILAND to have sex with a child prostitute?

Caption: SELECTIVELY FRUGAL
Man with worry lines on forehead: the deficit is too HIGH to AFFORD anything for the poor! OR the environment! …but don’t let that stand in the way of my tax cut.

Caption: NEPOTIST
as the latest of a LONG line of wealthy pundits, i KNOW success is created by MERIT!

Caption: THE APOSTLE
Exalted guy with hands together as if praying: we just need to TRUST that the MAGIC of the MARKET will make everything work out! that’s why it’s MAGIC!

Caption: ATLAS
Manically grinning man with messy hair, sitting with his hands on his computer keyboard: someday me and my friends will QUIT updating our blogs and THE ECONOMY WILL COLLAPSE!

Caption: CONSISTENT
Intense, woodpecker-looking man: stocks were UP, so i said: CUT TAXES! then stocks went down, so i said: CUT TAXES! i just stubbed my toe! CUT TAXES!

Caption: THE HISTORIAN
Man with big glasses and big grin, reading book: I’ve read summaries of the federalist papers MANY times, so I KNOW the framers share my views about EVERYTHING!

Caption: GUNNER JOE
Man holding two handguns up: there are only TWO kinds of people in the world: GUN OWNERS and SHEEP! and sheep aren’t really people.

Caption: BIZARRELY HYPOCRITICAL
Man with arms crossed: government should stay OUT of our personal lives! except for women’s uteruses, where government BELONGS!

Caption: BRIEFLY TEMPTING
Balding man in hoodie: the war on drugs is RIDICULOUS! end police abuse! #%^@! the war!

Caption: WHITEY
Balding man in black vest and black tie: i DO think it’s a TERRIBLE affront to liberty if restaurants HAVE to serve blacks! how is THAT racist?

Caption: MISSIONARY
Man holding out copy of Ayn Rand’s “Atlas Shrugged,” with wide eyes and bags under his eyes:YOU MUST READ THIS!

Caption: CAVEAT EMPTOR
Cheerful man about to eat hot dog: no need for a nanny state! i can test my OWN food for botulism!

Caption: STONED
Words coming up from somewhere below the bottom of the panel: hee hee hee

Libertarians Are Just Christian Fundamentalists in Disguise

Some of my readers wrote in to tell me that I have been unfair to Rand Paul in one of my recent posts. They say that it is wrong to equate him with insane religious fundamentalists simply because he used images from Sarah Palin's interviews in his campaign.

So I decided to give the guy a chance. Who knows, I thought, maybe he is an actual follower of Ayn Rand? Maybe he does, in fact, espouse Libertarian ideas. Of course, this optimism on my part suffered a mortal blow in the first 10 seconds of googling Rand Paul's name. I immediately discovered that one of his biggest supporters is the fundamentalist, hateful, and disgusting organization called Concerned Women for America. Just read the following statement these scary people make about themselves and tell me how would Ayn Rand react to this:

We are the nation's largest public policy women's organization with a rich 28-year history of helping our members across the country bring Biblical principles into all levels of public policy. We help people focus on six core issues, which we have determined need Biblical principles most and where we can have the greatest impact.

And of course, Ms. Rand would have found their position on abortion to be particularly repellent:

The group also opposes abortion in all cases, unless it is to save the life of the mother. Health exemptions are considered "immoral" and not supported. It also opposes emergency contraception, including after cases of rape, asserting that ECP is actually an abortifacient. CWA asserts that most forms of birth control—and all forms of hormonal birth control—are actually abortifacients, triggering chemical abortions.

After all this, how can anybody seriously claim that today's Libertarians of Rand Paul's ilk have anything in common with the original movement created by Ayn Rand? The founder of objectivism would certainly be horrified at the very idea of being associated with this group of insane Bible-thumpers who see women as baby-generating machines with no will or desires of their own. Not only was Ayn Rand fiercely proabortion, she also actively despised Christianity.

I knew from the start that the Tea Party movement was nothing other than yet another bid for power on the part of the fanatical Evangelicals. What is sad, though, is that there are still people who refuse to see them for what they are and keep hoping that this movement has something to do with objectivism.

Rand Paul and Sarah Palin

In spite of his unfortunate name and sad appearance, I was willing to give a chance to Rand Paul. I thought it might have been possible that he wasn't completely stupid and actually had some kind of a political message. All that was before I saw this ad where he boasts that Sarah Palin supports his ideas. Any legitimate politician with half a brain would be appalled by the support of this stupid clown. Sadly, Rand Paul seems to think that the support of this winkly and giggly disgrace of a human being is somehow flattering to him.

Here is the ad:



Why is it that the second you decide to give the Libertarians a chance they come out with something so embarrassing?