Cynical libertarianism is a losing strategy
The side that wants something will always prevail against the side that wants to be left alone.
Discussion
Being left alone is something to be had. Also, who said libertarians want to be left alone. They just don't want to be forced to do shit. This is like people who say anti-interventionists are isolationists. As if the only thing two places can exchange is bombs. Gtfo of here.
Leave me alone = don’t force me to do something
Force me to do something = me not being left alone.
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Lol, there are things one must do in this world for one's own survival. Once again, it is your assertion that Libertarians want to be left alone. Either way, "leave me alone" was the warning not an impossibility.
For the simple ones: I say "leave me alone." You say "I'm not going to leave you alone." I defend myself and my property from you. My wants are fulfilled. Yours are not. You think every Libertarian is a loner, you are incorrect.
You can't be left alone in a world that is round and inhabited by billions of fellow human. What you're talking about is isolation, you can go to a cave and try to reach enlightenment, otherwise you're forced to participate by social design.
LOLOLOL, Can no one read? What part of "Libertarians don't want to be left alone" don't you understand? Communities and social clubs are a big part of securing liberty for oneself, family, and friends. Again you all sound like the type to say to a non intervebtionist that they are isolationists because you can't fathom humans interacting without killing each other. Sad people.
It isn’t cynical libertarianism, it’s pragmatism and understanding the cost of using energy.
It costs 100x as much to spend your days, time, energy, and mind focused on politics, while the difference in the outcome is indistinguishable regarding who wins the election when looking at basically any meaningful stats or outcomes. Debt is going to explode upward, doesn’t matter who’s in office. Military complex will grow further. Govt will get bigger. Etc etc
Yet just a small amount of energy and time spent on decentralized protocols, on adopting and spreading understanding of sound money, or using a social network that cannot be censored, or spreading the signal and helping others to stop wasting time on lost causes that black hole our precious time and money.
You call it cynicism likely because you frame the world with politics at its center. You think I’m ignoring reality
I call it pragmatism because I realize politics is a game show designed to trick you into thinking it’s the center of the world. I actually live in reality, while you play reality TV.
I say this with respect, I think we have very different ideas as to what really moves the world. I’m not defeatist, I think putting politics at the center of everything happens in the mind of someone already totally defeated.
Well said. I think there’s some value in the debates, as they affect public discourse a bit (and entertainment), but it’s more and more clear that working within the system is a lost cause. I have to remind myself frequently of this as I’m, like many, easily caught up in the BS and emotion of the show
Appreciate the thoughtful response. A few thoughts:
Generally agree with your assessment of where we are headed if nothing changes. Agree that a small amount of time spent on decentralized and censorship resistant protocols like bitcoin and nostr provides resilience in an increasingly fragile world.
However, in the OP you mentioned there’s no reason to pay attention to say the debate because it doesn’t matter sighting the fact that the sitting president isn’t all there and ‘nothings changed.’ That’s the point I’m trying to make - things should change. Certain parts of public life are not acceptable in my opinion.
Generally I want less war, more reasonableness. It’s my right to inform myself about who may best achieve those objectives.
Also. The word politics is rooted in the Latin ‘politi’ meaning public. It’s just all the things we do together. It’s how define how best to get along with one another and most importantly, it is the alternative to war. And I agree that politics is not my ultimate source of my hope - that is foolish and will result in despair because politicians (like all of us) are selfish and flawed.
The only point I meant to make is that resignation from politics entirely yields ground to whoever desires that power. And some power seekers are in fact worse than others. Therefore we should seek to empower those who would wield their authority well (even if it is the lesser of two evils which is often the case). All the while we should (as you said) become antifragile, wise, resilient through self sovereign censorship resistant protocols.
Not if they can’t afford it