The Libertarian View

[arisbe]

"My own modus operandi, finely honed after spending almost half a decade in New Orleans, has been to wait until the very last minute, and then bolt out of there, tail between my legs, and then sit in bumper-to-bumper traffic. For Ivan, I crept to Baton Rouge, a trip of a little over an hour in ordinary circumstances, in nine hours. For Katrina, I left home early Sunday afternoon (8/28/05) inched up to Vicksburg in eight hours, which would usually take a little over two hours. Then, I went on up to Little Rock, my previous stamping ground (actually, it was Conway, a town of about 50,000, which lies about 30 miles northwest of the capital of Arkansas), and from there to Vancouver by plane.

"I am now safely ensconced in western Canada, writing up the notes I took en route. Happily, I escaped lightly, without too much inconvenience. But my heart goes out to those who were very much less fortunate.

"What has this to do with political economy, the usual subject of my writing interest? A lot, that's what." -- Walter Block, The Ludwig von Mises Institute

Libertarians are not Conservatives. Conservatives are enraged at Mr. Bush. Libertarians ask, What the hell else do you expect from these people? These people being da gummint, whatever party.

Comments

[dap6000.livejournal.com]

it must be very comforting to have that much faith in anything, be it god, the state, the market, or free enterprise.

personally, i distrust fundamentalists of any kind.

[arisbe.livejournal.com]

Me, too.

[arichi.livejournal.com]

One of the most amazing things from this story (the hurricane, not Professor Block's individual story) is the amount of people demanding that someone show up and say, "I'm from the government, and I'm here to help you."

[weret-hekau.livejournal.com]

I don't count on the government anymore...it's why I find myself leaning toward certain Libertarian views. If they're not going to help...maybe they should at least get out of the way. My heart will always be liberal though. I think that one of the few things that truly separates us from animals is that we believe our strong should not abandon our weak. Somewhere between not expecting others to do it for us, and abandoning the issues altogether lies the answers. I'm tired of the seemingly unforgiving attitudes of conservatives...and I'm also tired of liberals who, when asked what they've done for anybody lately, can't claim any real effort beyond blowing a lot of hot air around. I'm tired of labels. I'm tired of agendas. It's time people stopped worrying about defending ideas and actually try to do something for even one other person. I've said it a million times and I'll say it a million more....if everybody just helped even one or two people the world would be a better place.