maryxus

[maryxus]

Simple explanation on the flaws of Libertarianism

Libertarianism, as a political theory and ideology, fails because it ignores entire types of influence on freedom/ability to oppress in favor of focusing on how governments affect it. Basically, Libertarianism ignores the power of societal constructs (i.e. the things that people believe and the standards to which they hold others) and economic inequality (i.e. the ability of those with money to exploit those who don't, as well as their ability to affect both societal and government factors with it). So, while Libertarianism tend towards being socially progressive when it comes to government interference (i.e. governments should've be dictating who can marry whom), it's incredibly laissez-faire conservative to either of the other two major factors (i.e. if someone wants to deny service based on race, orientation, gender, etc. then good for them, they're free to do so). And on economic issues it's basically anarchy; property rights must be respected, but other than that anything is fair game. Actual Libertarians will run the gamut on how far down any aspect of the ideology they will go, but the theory itself is both narrowly focused and extreme. People who study politics and political theories tend to hate it because it's near-sighted.

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The more I see Bernie Sanders as a candidate (as well as people’s reactions to his candidacy), the more I think that his candidacy is a calculated move by the Democratic Party to provide a serious looking challenger to Hilary that can bring up several points of discussion that the DNC wants to discuss to energize the base, while still allowing for Hilary to be a strong centrist candidate with all the social momentum that already exists behind her.

I'm interested to see how the primaries play out.

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"Those poor boys"

"She deserves to be punished too."

"I’m not saying I support rape, but-"

"Sorry to say - she deserved it."

"She put herself in harm’s way"

"But if she was fingered, then that’s not rape."

"She ruined their lives."

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Someone please murder my emotions

I think I am going to end up with two lobbying projects over the summer instead of having a vacation. Liquor law stupidity is the theme of this venture.

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The 10 page limit is stupid (you don't want to have to oversimplify when it would be detrimental to do so), though I do understand the intent of the idea. I like #2 and #3, though with the latter you'd be shocked at how easy it is to justify content. #4 is actually a bad idea from a legal standpoint, because legal language evolves less quickly than layman's terms and is usually documented for interpretation later--the online thing is a great idea, though.

#5 is simply impractical. Most of those things are already part of a bill (funding, beneficiaries, ending date if there is one), but this implies TOTAL COSTS are something different from what total expected costs are. It's not actually possible to predict the future, so if you required that the ultimate cost of something be listed then you'd a) never get anything done or b) end up constantly falling short of your goals, wasting a bunch of money.

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"Identity vs thought" politics. I keep meaning to write an essay about this, but the basic premise is that, like Amanda pointed out here, we get into a lot of trouble in politics, inter-personal relationships, etc when we start viewing the world through our identities rather than evaluating people and situations at the time.

Too often I see people being all: "I am X, and people who are X believe Y; if you are not X and/or don't believe Y then you are a terrible person." This isn't helpful for anyone, because when people make statements (explicitly or implicitly through actions), they deserve to be evaluated and you owe it to yourself to evaluate on the merits of those statements and not the consistency of the statement with your identity/social group/values/etc.

This, I would say, is one of the top issues preventing the advancement of social justice causes. We, as a group, can't win people onto our side because we can't--or often refuse to--relate to the people we are trying to win over; we don't provide them an example of someone they'd want to be so that they will make the choice themselves, and without consciously making the choice it won't really stick. You can't shame someone into being your ally, not if you really want them to believe it.

Like Amanda says at the end of her post: "don’t let anyone try to turn you into a feminist. just be one."

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Text here to reiterate how pointless a caption is to this image. Seriously, though. I'm not for banning the ownership of all guns, but we need some more stringent standards on gun ownership and care so that shit like this doesn't happen, because most gun crimes are just like this: the result of someone being a fucking idiot and getting themselves or someone else killed.

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I asked my roommate what she would wish for if she were a magical girl in Madoka, and then this wonderful mess poured out of her mouth.

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Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Sass Harry Potter and the Chamber of Switches Harry Potter and the Prison of Assless Chaps Harry Potter and the Island of Fire Harry Potter and the Order of the Penis Harry Potter and the Full-Blooded Mast Harry Potter and the Dudely Handjobs

I love when organic conversations go to ridiculous places.

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Yesterday, Politico published a leaked report commissioned by two Republican lobbying groups on how the party can better attract female voters. The report, based on a recent poll of 800 female registered voters as well as a series of focus groups, is titled “Republicans and Women Voters: Huge Challenges, Real...

This is basically their strategy with every issue, though, so it's hard to be too flabbergasted by this instance of it specifically.

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Yes

She won’t say she’s in lesbians.

I love you oh my god

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Not sure, but I lost mine while watching Hannibal. Pretty sure that's weirder.

i wonder if anyones ever lost their virginity to a weird al song

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“But the Bible says…”

This is definitely how my brain reacts to this argument. I'm a bit less violent in fact.

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New arrangement is posted! This one is of Gold Pilot, composed by First Turn Fold. The beginning of the original was used in [S] Act 6 Act 6 Intermission 1, but my arrangement is of the full 5-minute piece.

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Buy an "Eagles Are Turning People Into Horses" t-shirt at our NEW STORE! http://britanick.spreadshirt.com/ Brian McElhaney's 2008 NYU Thesis Film, based on a...

It's a pretty surreal watch.

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Davestuck: Cherub Showdown