You also have to remember that most people aren’t capable of making the right choices regarding their health in emergency situations such as an accident, and many can’t in ordinary times either. They shouldn’t have to pay more or receive worse care just because of that. The idea that people are able to choose the best healthcare for themselves is a myth is almost all situations. There’s also things like bulk buying where people can get better prices than they could as individuals. Our government buys all the drugs for the entire population of the country. Our drugs are very, very cheap.

Second, spending other people’s money is not being generous. How you voluntarily spend your own money and time determines whether you are selfish or not.

I believe that if people were responsible for choosing their own health care (with government assistance as needed), it would work better than either one payer or the hybrid disaster the US has. I understand why people prefer a centralized system but I do not think the US can get there effectively. I think that progressives are well-intentioned but naive on the difficulties and problems.

I agree that libertarians are good when it comes to personal freedoms such as marriage equality. I have a different view to them regarding drugs. I think they shouldn’t be illegal because addiction should be treated openly as a health issue, and you can’t have something illegal if you’re going to do that. They just think you should be able to do what you want.

There are other things too that I’m on the same side as libertarians, but for different reasons. One is making prostitution legal. My reasons are around the safety of women. That’s not their motivation.

I have no time for Ron Paul. I recall him in the 2012 election campaign discussing the fact he was anti-abortion, even though as a libertarian he should be for it. As part of his answer he started going on about women pretending it was rape so they could get an abortion.

And yes, they are selfish. They want to do all the taking and none of the giving. We are part of a society, and that involves sometimes making sacrifices for the good of the whole. We pay taxes for programmes to help those less fortunate than ourselves. Libertarians tend not to think of what happens to abandoned children, those with a physical or mental disability, those who have no chance of ever looking after themselves through no fault of their own etc. They may not actively want to see those people living on the streets, but they also don’t realize that is exactly what would happen without government help.

Also libertarians were leaders in the fight for marriage equality. The Economist published a pro-gay marriage editorial in 1996. In 2007 Ron Paul and John Stossel supported gay marriage on ABC News. “Progressive” Obama and Hillary took another 5 or 6 years.

Selfish libertarian thought people should be able to what they wanted without government interference. The arrogance of them.

I disagree with the Federalist Society about almost everything, but I think the distinction they would draw is that the US Constitution was amended (the 13th Amendment, to be precise) after the Civil War expressly to prohibit slavery.

Thanks Mark.

Good comment. I agree with your analysis about why people think libertarianism would be good. As Paul says, the Obama comment from 2012 uncovered the extent of this thinking by GOP supporters. And like you say, how would any business manage without government teaching their future employees to read and write etc., or providing infrastructure and a legal system.

It’s hard finding nice tweets right now. Everyone is talking about Trump’s racism. Also, Twitter has changed the way it works, and I can’t get my head around it. I’ve been out of the workforce too long to handle tech changes.