General

Re: Libertarian humor: Good oneliners for discussions with statists?

ricarpe — Wed, 04 Aug 2010 11:14:42 GMT

ViennaSausage wrote the following post at Wed, Jul 21 2010 8:32 PM:

"If the government were truly efficient, it would cease to exist."

Is this an ricarpe original of have you heard this elsewhere?

Sorry for the late reply, VS.

I would like to claim it as an original work. I may have heard something similar in some form or fashion, but I can't recall where and I have done some searching. With the books I was reading at the time, it may just have been the conclusion I came up with.

It's origins come from my undergrad days: I was involved in a debate with a classmate who insisted that the government, if run like a business, could operate efficiently and with a profit. He was enamored with the whole statist-corporatist view of how government and business could collude to make everyone's life better.

Re: Libertarian humor: Good oneliners for discussions with statists?

MisguidedThoughts — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 07:18:39 GMT

These are not mine

Talk is cheap, except when congress does it.

What's the difference between a democrat and a prostitute? A prostitute gives value for the money she takes.

They say Christopher Columbus was the first democrat. When he set off, he didn't know where he was going, when he reached his destination, he didn't know where he was, and it was all done on a government grant.

The only difference between a taxman and a taxidermist is that the taxidermist leaves the skin.

Re: Libertarian humor: Good oneliners for discussions with statists?

MacFall — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 05:35:34 GMT

Statist: "If you hate the government so much, why don't you leave?"

Libertarian: "Since the state clearly hates me so much, why doesn't it leave?"

"The signers of the Declaration of Independence believed that government was a necessary evil. I agree with them on all but the 'necessary' part."

On that same vein: "Government is not, as is often claimed, a 'necessary evil'. Rather, it is a plain evil of such great power that it has been able to convince nearly everyone of its necessity."

The state only feeds those whom it intends to eat later.

For every thing government has supposedly done for us, there are a dozen things which it has done to us.

"Congress shall make no law..." Okay, we can stop there.

If the government had a war on abortion like its wars on poverty and drugs, within five years men would be having abortions. (Paraphrased from Harry Browne)

A state is the most succesful criminal gang in a given territory.

If the government derives its power to rule me from me, as it claims, then I would like for it to kindly f--- off and give it back. (Paraphrased from a post on this forum by someone whose name I don't remember)

Democracy is Gang Rape^(R), the board game!

Re: Libertarian humor: Good oneliners for discussions with statists?

Mr Civil Libertartian — Sat, 24 Jul 2010 11:25:39 GMT

As usual, Doug Stanhope delivers.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oZcFf55SD-Q

Re: Libertarian humor: Good oneliners for discussions with statists?

Seph — Sat, 24 Jul 2010 10:11:44 GMT

The differences between a democracy and a republic are purely illusory.

The tenets of the constitution can only be enforced with the will, or at least tacit consent, of a sizeable amount of citizens. If a sizeable amount of Americans see no problem with violating the constitution (or at least aren't willing to do anything about it) such as in the weeks and months following 9/11, then it becomes useless.

In other words, a republic is really just a democracy, "restrained" by a piece of paper which itself relies on nothing more than democracy and democratic opinion.

Re: Libertarian humor: Good oneliners for discussions with statists?

ViennaSausage — Sat, 24 Jul 2010 08:24:16 GMT

I always take exception to the description of democracy as "mob rule". If not rule by mob, then rule by whom? Decisions are made by somebody, with or without a state.

Democracy is rule by the majority. I sure would hate to live in a Democracy, as whoever is in the majority rules the minority. The rights of the minority are not protected. If 51% voted to take 100% of your income, you are screwed. It is mob rule.

Contrast this with a Republic, where its not rule of the majority, but by the rule of law. And in the case of the Republic known as the United States of America, the rule of law is the Constitution. Not as great as AnCap, but much better than a Democracy, IMHO.

Re: Libertarian humor: Good oneliners for discussions with statists?

ama gi — Sat, 24 Jul 2010 03:02:59 GMT

your last post is all well and good - but how does that jive with "And what is the alternative? Rule by a priesthood of illustrious, gifted persons such as yourself? as you know that is not what is advocated on this site

I always take exception to the description of democracy as "mob rule". If not rule by mob, then rule by whom? Decisions are made by somebody, with or without a state.

Re: Libertarian humor: Good oneliners for discussions with statists?

Mike — Sat, 24 Jul 2010 02:33:26 GMT

your last post is all well and good - but how does that jive with "And what is the alternative? Rule by a priesthood of illustrious, gifted persons such as yourself? as you know that is not what is advocated on this site

changing the avatar had to do with intelligence - just a jab. not personal, since i don't know you

Re: Libertarian humor: Good oneliners for discussions with statists?

ama gi — Sat, 24 Jul 2010 01:52:45 GMT

Why should I? Einstein wasn't anarcho-capitalist either.

I reject the idea of an-cap because I reject the idea of setting up private-sector bureaucracies to replace the statist buraucracies. I don't want a bunch of PDAs and private courts running around enforcing their own "private law" and I think the rule of law can exist only were there are formal legal codes universally agreed upon. I think that those legal codes ought to be derived by public referendum and court precedent set by juries of our peers. I don't think democracy is a bad thing. I think democracy can coexist and thrive with free enterprise; just read de tocquville.

Re: Libertarian humor: Good oneliners for discussions with statists?

Mike — Sat, 24 Jul 2010 01:00:32 GMT

ama gi :"And what is the alternative? Rule by a priesthood of illustrious, gifted persons such as yourself?"

Boy, over 600 posts and you still don't have a clue what this forum is about?? you should change your avatar

Re: Libertarian humor: Good oneliners for discussions with statists?

ama gi — Sat, 24 Jul 2010 00:51:05 GMT

Democracy is glorified mob rule

And what is the alternative? Rule by a priesthood of illustrious, gifted persons such as yourself?

Re: Libertarian humor: Good oneliners for discussions with statists?

abskebabs — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 18:28:33 GMT

This aint quite a one liner, but I found the following anecdote from the Russian physicist Boris Ioffe about life in the Soviet Union while working with his supervisor Pomeranchuk amusing and edifying:

"In one particular aspect Pomeranchuk and I had something in common —
we had a common hobby, reading newspapers. At that time almost nobody
read newspapers regularly — there was no information there. All newspapers
were filled with articles that would start with words like “New successes in
the production of ... are achieved at the factory ... ” or “The worker Ivanov
(Petrov, etc.) in one shift produced ...” In order to get information from
newspapers one had to be a professional in this business, and we — Chuk and
me — were. (From now on I will call him Chuk, as many did.) In the morning,
just after arriving at the ITEP, Chuk would come into my office and ask:
— “ Have you read Pravda today?”
— “ Yes,” I would reply.
— “And what did you pay attention to?”
— “ To a small article on the third page.”
— “Oh!” and Chuk would raise his forefinger.
— “And you?”
—“ Probably, the same, the report on the meeting of the Voronezh District
Party Committee.”
— “Yes.”
— “And what was interesting for you in this report?”
— “The greeting to the Politbureau.”
—“Oh!” And Chuk’s forefinger would go up up again. “What concretely?”
— “The ordering in which the names of the Politbureau members were
listed.”
We understood each other well. From this ordering one could obtain an
idea of who was going up or down in the Politbureau, and estimate political
trends."

Re: Libertarian humor: Good oneliners for discussions with statists?

Mike — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 17:30:13 GMT

I do not like this Uncle Sam,

I do not like his health care scam.

I do not like these dirty crooks,

or how they lie and cook the books.

I do not like when Congress steals,

I do not like their secret deals.

I do not like this speaker, Nan ,

I do not like this 'YES WE CAN.'

I do not like this spending spree,

I'm smart, I know that nothing's free.

I do not like their smug replies,

when I complain about their lies.

I do not like this kind of hope.

I do not like it, nope, nope, nope!

Re: Libertarian humor: Good oneliners for discussions with statists?

TheNcredibleEgg — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 03:38:05 GMT

The irony about socialism is that the "utopia paradise" it strives for can only be achieved by every man working for himself.

Re: Libertarian humor: Good oneliners for discussions with statists?

ViennaSausage — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 00:32:31 GMT

"If the government were truly efficient, it would cease to exist."

Is this an ricarpe original of have you heard this elsewhere?