Libertarian social profile (from Digest)

Svein Olav Nyberg i at i-studies.com
Wed Nov 24 08:59:11 CET 2010


At 15:37 -0500 23-11-10, Emeka Nweze wrote:
>i don't think it is possible to be an egoist and a libertarian.

That was Sid Parker's contention as well. In fact, he said you 
couldn't be an egoist and an X regardless which political ideology X 
you pointed to, be it libertarian, anarchist, socialist or some of 
the vanilla ideologies people choose by social pressure and habit.

But then there's a difference between "being" an X, and

1.  using the language of X as a tool (Sid himself was a trade union 
man, and used words like "justice" in negotiations)
2. having *preferences* one way or the other (I prefer living in a 
secular country to living under sharia)

  = = =

All that said, the psychological profiles of an egoist and a 
libertarian might be quite similar, along the lines of the articles I 
originally posted.

  = = = = =

At 01:11 -0600 24-11-10, David McDivitt wrote:
>Randian egoists differ from Stirner egoists. It's well known that
>objectivism (Rand) and libertarianism don't mix,

That's because they are too *similar* and because Rand issued a fatwa 
against those she saw as usurpers of her philosophy. So it's not like 
vinegar and oil, but more like freshwater and seawater. Of course, 
libertarianism has evolved since then, and other voices more 
different to Rand's have taken prominence, but there is still a 
strong element of that inheritance, at least in the general 
psychological profile. Most libertarians are, like the Randians, 
quite head-oriented and not overly concerned with emotion. Most, but 
not all.


---Svein Olav


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