From: mece3d@jane.uh.edu (Chris Struble)
Subject: Libertarians ARE Liberals (was Re: Perot for President)
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Organization: University of Houston
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Date: Tue, 14 Apr 1992 23:16:00 GMT

In article <1992Apr9.171811.17931@acsu.buffalo.edu>, blayda@acsu.buffalo.edu (Danger) writes...

>Consider Andre Marrou  -Libertarian
> 
> >To other Libertarians reading the Net listen good!
> 

I'm listening.

>There is a tendency among people unfamiliar with the party
>to see the first 5 letters and nothing more.
> 
>It is very very wrong to see Libertarians in the same light as
>Liberals!!!!!!!!
> 

But we ARE liberals. We are, in fact the only liberals in America. 

'LIBERal' used to mean what the name implies - supporters of individual
'LIBERty' against the arbitrary power of the state. That's us, and
its probably why we kept the first five letters in 'LIBERtarian'. The 
term "liberal' is still used in this old sense in Europe, and most of
the free market reformers in Russia and Eastern Europe call themselves 
'liberals'. Those who oppose (i.e hard-line communists) are called
'conservatives'. 

There has also emerged a third party in England called the Liberal 
Democrats whose pitch sounds a bit like ours, based on what little
the censors of the socialist American media let us see.

>We are being slandered as Liberal puke.  Be wary of it in your
>encounters.

  The reason many of us associate the term 'liberal' with 'puke'
is because socialists started using it in the second half of the 19th
century. They tried to convince people that socialism would bring
a 'new freedom' and that those who opposed this 'liberty' were in
fact 'conservatives' trying to maintain the 'oppression' of capitalism.
This new freedom was, of course, the freedom to use government to steal
from your neighbors.

  By no means should libertarians be afraid of their liberal roots. 
What we should do is take every opportunity to set the record straight
on who is liberal and who isn't. Any person or group that believes that
government has a right to interfere in the private transactions of 
adults is not liberal. Let me start here:

1) The ALCU is not liberal. It simply believes in protecting certain 
   rights it is interested in for people it likes. On issues like gun
   control, racism and education choice it is remarkably authoritarian.

2) Neither major party in America is liberal (yes, that includes the
   socialist Democrat pukes). Both believe that the state has the power
   to take as much of your wealth as it pleases, and regulate every 
   aspect of your life. So does Ross Perot.

3) The NRA is, at least on the issue of gun control.

4) The Libertarian Party is on everything.

>Thaddeus Krag Blayda blayda@acsu.buffalo.edu, v063j3h4@ubvms.buffalo.edu

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|  Christian Struble	   |  To shield people from the consequences   |
|  Mechanical Engineering  |  of their own folly is to fill the	       | 
|  University of Houston   |  world with fools  		       |	
|  mece3d@jetson.uh.edu	   |    	Herbert Spencer		       |	
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Newsgroups: talk.politics.misc,alt.individualism,sci.econ,misc.legal,alt.discrimination