Do You Know Anyone Who Has Defected?

[Sola_Fide]

Do you know of someone who has at one point truly, truly understood liberty, but has defected to become an authoritarian?

[eduardo89]

A friend of mine defected to North Korea.

[Sola_Fide]

A friend of mine defected to North Korea.

How's he doing?

[fisharmor]

Do you know of someone who has at one point truly, truly understood liberty, but has defected to become an authoritarian?

You should define what "truly understanding liberty" is.
Everyone has some understanding of freedom. Whether or not they nurture it or apply it to specific scenarios is another matter.

[Feeding the Abscess]

I had a number of friends jump ship when I expressed concerns regarding the Osama mission the night it happened.

Of course, once the story changed a million times they came back.

[Diurdi]

Well I've never known anyone who had been an advocate for Austrian Economics and gone Keynesian.

[ninepointfive]

There is a group of self proclaimed ¨Liberty Leaders¨ in my neck of the woods. Well, it turns out they´re more like statist followers than actual leaders for liberty. Quite disgusting. Too many egos.

[Live Free or Die]

Scene from Moscow on the Hudson (vid starts at the 7:34 mark)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HDu0xybhtGk&feature=player_detailpage#t=454s

[goRPaul]

Scene from Moscow on the Hudson (vid starts at the 7:34 mark)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HDu0xybhtGk&feature=player_detailpage#t=454s

Nice post.... lol

[dannno]

Chris Matthews :confused:








































....so he claims :rolleyes:

[trey4sports]

yeah, the person who told me about Ron Paul and introduced me to him. Shes now a Mitt Romney follower. I don't get it....

[Echoes]

Libertarianism is probably the least likely philosophy to have defectors. Once you understand sound economics and liberty in general, it's hard going back. Shattering the left-right paradigm is a pleasant experience.

[Sola_Fide]

yeah, the person who told me about Ron Paul and introduced me to him. Shes now a Mitt Romney follower. I don't get it....

That's bizarre. How could that be?

[Mahkato]

Ben Bernanke?

[pcosmar]

I did earlier this morn,,,
Oh,, Defected. :o


never mind.

[Dr.3D]

I did earlier this morn,,,
Oh,, Defected. :o


never mind.
I tend to do that a couple of times a day, myself. :D
Defecticated.

[Sola_Fide]

I did earlier this morn,,,
Oh,, Defected. :o


never mind.

Lawlz

[PaleoForPaul]

Do you know of someone who has at one point truly, truly understood liberty, but has defected to become an authoritarian?

I'd like to think I understand liberty, but I'm sure some would think I have authoritarian tenancies.

[pcosmar]

I'd like to think I understand liberty, but I'm sure some would think I have authoritarian tenancies.

I believe in both repentance and forgiveness.
;)

letting go of bad habits is difficult and often a growing process.
:cool:

[lightai]

Hilary Clinton was a Goldwater supporter in her youth...

[One Last Battle!]

Hilary Clinton was a Goldwater supporter in her youth...

Get the fuck outta here.

[BuddyRey]

No discussion of ex-libertarian defectors would be complete without mentioning Rep. Dana Rohrbacher. In his college days, the guy hung out with Samuel Edward Konkin III and was an avid Agorist. But he's had the perfect opportunity to implement those ideas as a Republican member of the U.S. House for years now and has done almost nothing that could be construed as even remotely libertarian.

[BamaAla]

Get the fuck outta here.

That's the word on the street.

[Fredom101]

Ben Bernanke?

Bernanke grew up in the halls of academia. He knows nothing of liberty or austrian economics.

It's pretty tough to find the truth and then go back. Some can do it. Greenspan is one example. But libertarianism, or more specifically market anarchism, is the end of the road. Once you realize that government is merely a constructed fantasy it's game over for other theories and lying politicians.

[Fredom101]

No discussion of ex-libertarian defectors would be complete without mentioning Rep. Dana Rohrbacher. In his college days, the guy hung out with Samuel Edward Konkin III and was an avid Agorist. But he's had the perfect opportunity to implement those ideas as a Republican member of the U.S. House for years now and has done almost nothing that could be construed as even remotely libertarian.

Really? Do you have a link on this? Interesting. I've heard that guy on the John & Ken show and he seems like just your average run of the mill statist. Wonder what happened? Too bad, we could have used him!

[nate895]

Do you know of someone who has at one point truly, truly understood liberty, but has defected to become an authoritarian?

IDK about "truly understood liberty," that can be taken in multiple ways, but I did know this one kid who I got to caucus for Paul back in '08 who became a liberal shill.

[Theocrat]

Do you know of someone who has at one point truly, truly understood liberty, but has defected to become an authoritarian?

I know people who believe authoritarianism is liberty. Figure that one out...

[nate895]

I know people who believe authoritarianism is liberty. Figure that one out...

This makes sense if you believe that the people in government are basically good and the average everyday person is corrupted. You see this kind of attitude when someone justifies whatever the cops do. They can never acknowledge the cops are wrong, they just have to justify the cops' actions in order to justify their scheme where the state perfects society, achieving liberty. The problem with authoritarianism is its inconsistency as to human nature. It thinks because you have the badge, you can do no wrong.

[Theocrat]

This makes sense if you believe that the people in government are basically good and the average everyday person is corrupted. You see this kind of attitude when someone justifies whatever the cops do. They can never acknowledge the cops are wrong, they just have to justify the cops' actions in order to justify their scheme where the state perfects society, achieving liberty. The problem with authoritarianism is its inconsistency as to human nature. It thinks because you have the badge, you can do no wrong.

My thoughts exactly. It's simply a matter of worldviews, where terms and definitions are defined based on one's preconceived notions of what is "good" and "evil."

[nate895]

This makes sense if you believe that the people in government are basically good and the average everyday person is corrupted. You see this kind of attitude when someone justifies whatever the cops do. They can never acknowledge the cops are wrong, they just have to justify the cops' actions in order to justify their scheme where the state perfects society, achieving liberty. The problem with authoritarianism is its inconsistency as to human nature. It thinks because you have the badge, you can do no wrong.

In relation to this, I should also mention this is why you see GOP hacks justifying everything Bush does, while saying Obama is satan (and visa versa). Because a Democrat inhabits the WH (I'm not going to ascribe it to racism, since the same thing happened when Clinton was in office) and the bad people are in control, all of a sudden the GOP hacks are opposed to what the government does. They call themselves conservatives when they are really authoritarian hacks who think their team is good and everyone else is evil, it's basically modern day Pharisees thinking they're all holier than thou. Conservatives recognize that they themselves have a corrupted nature as well, which is why real conservatives are not activists in office.

[Mahkato]

Bernanke grew up in the halls of academia. He knows nothing of liberty or austrian economics.

It's pretty tough to find the truth and then go back. Some can do it. Greenspan is one example. But libertarianism, or more specifically market anarchism, is the end of the road. Once you realize that government is merely a constructed fantasy it's game over for other theories and lying politicians.

My brain was thinking Greenspan, but my fingers typed Bernanke. Just in regard to his old quotes about the value of gold as money.

[BuddyRey]

Really? Do you have a link on this? Interesting. I've heard that guy on the John & Ken show and he seems like just your average run of the mill statist. Wonder what happened? Too bad, we could have used him!

http://www.pulpless.com/sek3/

"We left New York together to come out to the promised land, Southern California, where he lived the rest of his life, except for two years in Las Vegas. Our automobile journey west with two other libertarians (Bob "Kedar" Cohen and Andy Thornton), in July and August 1975, took us to the Rivercon science fiction convention in Louisville,KY, and to the home of science-fiction magazine publisher Richard E. Geis in Portland, before we arrived in Los Angeles on August 10, 1975, where we spent our first night sleeping on the apartment floor of Dana Rohrabacher, Sam's libertarian mentor, and now U.S. Congressman from Orange County, CA. Even today Congressman Rohrabacher still speaks fondly of Sam's genius and imagination."

[One Last Battle!]

Greenspan is a self serving thug. I doubt he has any strong beliefs that he isn't willing to drop if the political winds are blowing strong enough.

I haven't heard of many people defecting from strong Libertarianism, and I haven't heard of ANYONE defecting from Anarcho-Capitalism. Once you know that the State is hollow and any controls are self destructive in the long run, it is hard to turn back.

[Diurdi]

My brain was thinking Greenspan, but my fingers typed Bernanke. Just in regard to his old quotes about the value of gold as money. I'm pretty sure Greenspan believes in Austrian Economics, but for his own self-interest he has adopted another position.