Lidless is 100% correct. Frank lays out an excellent case filled with solid evidence. Attack his case. Attack his evidence. Attack his recitation of events and those who were players in those events.
Care to actually debate / refute any of the statements he made?
US Representative Barney Frank is giving you a history of events as they occured in Congress and within the government from the viewpoint of an elected official who participated in them and who tried to do something about it. He was there when actions were taken and is reporting on it. He does not have to an economist to provide than information. He does not have to be anything other than someone who has the knowledge of being there and being a participant.
CG - it is sad and rather pathetic that your loathing for me as a foe of both conservatism and libertarianism blinds you to reality. Here is your vitriol filled statement attacking me
People who disagree with each other entirely and whose only point of agreement is that they also disagree with people who write tripe like that quote are clearly not the same. They may appear the same to the uneducated, but they are not the same to anyone who has learned even the basics of political science.
"
entirely"????? "
People who disagree with each other entirely"????? And "
their only point of agreement is that they also disagree with people who write tripe like that quote are clearly not the same" ???????
Lets examine that in detail.
There is wide area of agreement between conservatives on the right and libertarians , many of whose positions also are on the right, sometimes even further right than Republican conservatives.
*** both are rabidly anti-labor union
*** both advocate policies that are pro Big Business and anti-working people- especially working people in the labor movement
*** both tend to be no friend of laws or programs aimed at helping minorities such as affirmative action programs
*** both tend to shun government programs which would regulate the excesses of Big Business
*** both scream loudly about reverting to Small Government (whatever that may be)
*** both have fought programs to make Big Business pay for environmental improvements
*** both have fought and opposed programs advocated by OSHA which protect workers on the job and in the workplace
*** both are no friends of public education and have participated in efforts to weaken the public school system
*** both are rabid supporters of guns and gun rights
*** both find themselves railing against government taxes and worship at the altar of "lower taxes"
*** both are on the fringes of a movement to increase states rights and even possible secession as a measure to decrease the power of the federal government
*** both worship at the altar of an economy based on the free enterprise system and free trade
*** both are deadset against any form of government backed or single payer health care system
*** both have advocated either getting rid of Social Security or privatization of it
*** both have tried to make scapegoats of immigrants
*** both have advocated ending government welfare programs for the poor
*** both seem to be in love with private charity efforts over government efforts to help the needy
*** both advocate the privatization of many current government services
There you have many areas of agreement between many Republican Conservatives and many Libertarians. Do you need more to show you that this is not just simply one area where they agree? Would it matter anyway? I suspect not.
Where did I get this list? I compared the platform of the Republican Party with the platform of the Libertarian Party and compared statements and actions by politicians in both.
http://www.lp.org/issues" target="_blank" target="_blank" target="_blank" target="_blank" target="_blank" target="_blank" target="_blank" target="_blank" target="_blank" target="_blank
http://www.gop.com/pdf/PlatformFINAL_WithCover.pdf" target="_blank" target="_blank" target="_blank" target="_blank" target="_blank" target="_blank" target="_blank" target="_blank" target="_blank
I have provided both. Anyone wishing to do so can read them and find many more areas of agreement between the two.
Yes CG, I know you support more drugs and legalization for them and those are issues associated with some on the left and you cringe and rebel when somebody puts your philosophy on the right wing fringe. You have a right to cringe and feel uncomfortable. Its a free country. It is obvious that you, as well as many other libertarians, take great pride in thinking of themselves as something very special and distinct from the vast majority in the two party structure. You like to think that you defy the normal conventional labels and placement on the idealogical continuum. Again, its a free country and you can look at yourself any way that makes you feel comfortable.
"Whatever gets you through the night"
John Lennon 1974