I have heard it many times on this forum. For some reason many yell that libertarians are selfish, self-centered, greedy, or a whole bunch other similar adjectives. This could not be further from the truth. Of course some people that are libertarians are greedy. That does not go with the philosophy though. Libertarianism is about keeping liberties and keeping the government small so it does not become oppressive. If no one noticed most of the time libertarians are out there supporting other peoples freedoms that they do not even use. I am sure many, if not all, of the libertarians on this board can attest to this. For me some examples are gay rights, drug legalization, nudity, and many other liberties that I have advocated for. Even if we personally think some of those things are wrong we support others right to do them as long as they are not harming others.

The same goes for many economic matters. Many, probably most, of us are not wealthy. We support economic freedom and that is not just our freedom, other peoples economic freedom. Is it all about liberty, as the name suggests, and more importantly it is not about the liberty of us but everyone in this country.

I agree with the OP 100%. I've been a staunch libertarian for years (but no longer with a capitol L for Libertarian Party) and I'm sooooo the opposite of wealthy that I didn't even earn enough last year to qualify for the $300 "rebate" that the government is issuing. (But I'm pleased to not be paying taxes anymore to support the war machine, so it's a trade off that I'm willing to make.)

Believing in freedom isn't selfish nor is it the domain of the wealthy. People who keep bashing libertarians with the negative terms mentioned in the OP truly do not understand the philosophy so I'm glad that you started this thread, xJoex.

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Walter Mondale: "George Bush doesn't have the manhood to apologize." George Bush: "Well, on the manhood thing, I'll put mine up against his any time."

I had been meaning to make this thread for a while, but I never got around to it. Then someone called libertarianism something yesterday and I thought I would finally make it. Thanks Lumara.

I can't get down with libertarianism because I think it's important for society to have a government that provides libraries, education, police, firemen, national guard, park rangers, national parks, community pools, parades, and all the other things that are provided by government for the good of a healthy, civilized society.

Although I am pretty darn far from libertarianism on the political spectrum (I support big government, both on economic issues and social issues), I think it is disengenuous to call libertarianism selfish or greedy or anything else of that nature.

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Set your destination with your heart, get there with your mind.

"The wisest men follow their own direction." - Euripides

It seems a little selfish and greedy to not want to pay taxes to support the society, doesn't it?

You have to look at their reasonings behind not wanting taxes though. And it's not that they don't want to have to pay taxes, they don't want the government to be doing things that they feel the government shouldn't be doing.

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Set your destination with your heart, get there with your mind.

"The wisest men follow their own direction." - Euripides

That's it exactly!

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Walter Mondale: "George Bush doesn't have the manhood to apologize." George Bush: "Well, on the manhood thing, I'll put mine up against his any time."

Such as VL, you don't support the war, right (I'm assuming)? So you don't want your tax dollars being wasted on that, they just have more things that they don't feel that tax dollars should be wasted on, it's not about the money, but about the programs that the money is going to.

But I'll bet (another assumption) that most, if not all, fully support being taxed to pay for roads.

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Set your destination with your heart, get there with your mind.

"The wisest men follow their own direction." - Euripides

Things such as roads, infrastructure, courts, the Center for Disease Control, the Postal service, are examples of things that DO fall into the realm of government and taxes are needed to pay for these.

The problem is that many have discovered that they have access to the US Treasury for items such as corporate welfare, loans, insurance programs, subsidies, grants, etc. and it is wrong to tax the citizens to pay for these things. Taxes should be collected only to support those programs essential to running the government and infrastructure and the rest should be eliminated or moved to the local level.

Viola mentioned swimming pools, parades, libraries, and parks, among other things. These definitely affect quality of life and are good things to have. Yet these should be financed by those who use them in a given community. The funds shouldn't be funnelled through a central government which siphons off a large amount for administrative costs like bureaucrats' paychecks and benefits; if these costs were borne directly by those who want to use these facilities, it would be cheaper and be more fair.

After all, remember the multi-billion-dollar bridge to nowhere, pork that was used to connect a community of only 200 people to the mainland in Alaska? Or how about the multi-million dollar moving sidewalk for a mall in Altoona, PA? These were paid for with federal tax dollars. Tax money should never be authorized for any pork. The fact that pork even exists shows unfair the system is and libertarians are against things like this. This mindset doesn't make us greedy or wealthy. If it did, I'd be rolling in the dough by now and living on my own island somewhere so I could do whatever I want because there wouldn't be any uniformed thugs to stop me.

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Walter Mondale: "George Bush doesn't have the manhood to apologize." George Bush: "Well, on the manhood thing, I'll put mine up against his any time."