Newsgroups: alt.politics.libertarian,comp.org.eff.talk,alt.amateur-comp,soc.culture.usa,alt.activism
Subject: [misc.activism.progressive] Clinton Office Requests Comments
From: jsteiner@anwsun.phya.utoledo.edu (jason 'Think!' steiner)
Date: 4 Jan 93 14:31:29 EST
Distribution: inet
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[ Article crossposted from comp.org.eff.talk,alt.amateur-comp,soc.culture.usa,alt.activism ]
[ Author was Tristan Riley ]
[ Posted on 4 Jan 1993 02:33:23 GMT ]

In article <BZS.93Jan2232208@world.std.com> bzs@world.std.com (Barry Shein) writes:
>
>
>Anyhow...
>
>The point being that these are people who have the appurtenances of
>the upper-middle class (cultural grounding, education, and tastes,
>etc) but don't have the wherewithal to obtain their "expected" rewards
>in the world of today (and some of this may be a temporary thing, but
>no doubt 5+ years of that to a young person can be very frustrating.)
>
>So, libertarianism tends to speak to such people: Something must be
>holding them back, right? Something must be unfairly standing in the
>way of their getting their birthright, a comfortable life etc (even if
>the specifics of that aren't exactly the same as their parents it
>still costs a lot of money, that's how their tastes run and were
>trained, regardless of the fashion turns it takes, both Sinatra and
>thrash sound better on a $5,000 stereo system...)
>Now, what is holding them back? What could it be? What is making life
>so much harder than their relatively comfortable upbringing ever led
>them to believe? Why...it must be...THE GOVT! Rules and regulations
>which make the playing field more competitive to people who DON'T HAVE
>A BIRTHRIGHT! (not to mention complicate life immensely, a melancholy
>longing for simplicity in all human affairs is a hallmark of this
>particular mindset.)
>
a wonderful summing up!  libertarianism as the ideology of the
frustrated children of the elite.  of course, none of the randites
believes in society (as has been painfully demonstrated on this
network), so making an argument, however sensible and consistent,
about libertarianism as being cultivated by socio-economic variables
rather than the incredible reasoning powers of a few gifted bootstrap-pulling 
horatio algers is bound to fall on deaf (and hostile) ears.
still, nice job, mr. shein.  expect, as you anticipate, dozens of
replies from "lower class libertarians" (who of course toiled their
"self-defeating ethic" of the underclass into which they were
born) who will see in their social
point of origin a refutation of your argument because they aren't
quite prepared to admit that in a libertarian society there'd be
no school loans, scholarships, etc. for people like them and so
they'd be preaching the religion of the mighty and asocial
individual while sweeping up the shit in the rich folks' back yard.

tristan



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`,`   "A little government and a little luck are necessary in life,     `,`
`,`       but only a fool trusts either of them" - P.J. O'Rourke        `,`
`,`,`,`,`,`,`,`,`,`,`,`,`,`,`,`,`,` jsteiner@anwsun.phya.utoledo.edu ,`,`,`
Xref: sparky alt.politics.libertarian:3032 comp.org.eff.talk:8324 alt.amateur-comp:481 soc.culture.usa:9463 alt.activism:20062