Hello.

In the NationStates game my nation is "Libertarian Canada". I moved to the region of Canada because I was born in Canada and live there until 2001. I'm orginally from Winnipeg, but now I live on the Gold Coast in Queensland, Australia.
I haven't been really active in any of the affairs of the region of Canada, but I suppose that will change.

Harley

Welcome to Canada!

welcome aboard!

stay away from the insane root ^_^

Nice of you to join - :Canada:

Welcome to Canada! Wootack.

Welcome Harley :)

:D Welcome to Canada Harley :D

Welcome

Welcome to Canada, Harley! :)

Welcome Harley! :Canada:

Hi there Harley, welcome to :Canada:


If you're a left libertarian, could I interest you in joining the Canadian Communist party?

Welcome to Canada, Harley!!! :Canada:

WTC! Insane root over there -->

Canada says hi
check out our water cooler
fun to be had there

:Canada:
(this haiku inspired by Judith Gap)

Hi Harley

WTC! :Canada:

I'm actually a moderate libertarian in real life. I'm a libertarian full stop on social issues but I share a lot of economic views with right libertarians such as (I took this from a post I wrote on the forum at

):

1. A business is run for the purpose of making money and nothing else. Profit is often the only reason why people get into a business in the first place and to expect them to do anything but make money is unreasonable. That being said this is the reason why I support MODERATE regulation because many companies would mistreat workers, pollute the enviroment, and make unsafe products.

2. Free speech should mean just that. Any speech that directly encourges violence such as a mob boss ordering a hit or skinheads planning to kill a black man should be allowed and straight up lies or slander should be allowed. That's it. It doesn't matter if what is being said is liberal, conservative, communist, libertarian, offensive, racist, sexist, anti-semetic, homophobic, glorifies violence, pornographic, or almost anything else. Doesn't mean that like it or support it. Some think this means I'm a racist or that some of the things I mentioned. I'll give you an example of something I find very offensive, but I would never want outlaw if only for free speech. You may have heard of a genre of film called "Mondo" films. These films are often a quasi- or pseudo-documenteries about sensational topics. There is a sub-genre of "Mondo" films called the "Death film" these films such as "Traces of Death" and the far more tasteful but just as graphic "Banned from TV" show real-life images of people who have died in very gruesome ways, we get see about 88 minutes of car accident victims, murder victims, people who commited suicide, people on fire, real wholesome stuff and the same goes for websites that show similar content. Even in spite of this I support free speech.

3. A lot of regulation goes to far. Too many regulations are supported by big companies because they know that smaller corporations are not able to afford the license fees, many safety regulations are impractical and don't save that many lives and cost too much, and the sheer amount of paperwork takes up too much time and money. I do believe in safety standards, but if those standards are made too high then the cost would be to heavy and praticality would be too low for the good/service to be of any use.

4. There are too many bureaucratic stupidities commited by the government. Such as ethanol used for consumption is taxed, ethanol for industrial purposes is not taxed, so the companies that make ethanol for industry have to add poison to the ethanol to make it 'denatured alcohol'. Now the poisons cost money and make the ethanol toxic. If the taxes were lower on alcohol or there wasn't any taxes on alcohol there wouldn't be this problem.

5. Government tends to be foolish with money. Example $600 toliet seats, $100,000 outhouses, corporate welfare, paying farmers not to grow crops, members of congress often abuses their power and take vactions on taxpayer money, and the pentagon pisses away more money on stupid flashy shit than all the rappers in world put togather times a thousand.

6. Welfare needs to be changed. I'm nowhere near asking for the abolishion of welfare. Since a centain amount of unemployment is good for the economy because as the economy grows more people need to be employed and a surplus of workers can fill those positions. If there is no means of support those people will then have to resort to begging or crime as a means of survival. But there are some people out there that do use welfare as an alternative to work. As an alternative to welfare the government should make those who have a mind and body capable of work to do some sort community service in their respective communities. This might even save the taxpayers some money.

7. The right to run your property/business. There are laws in some cities the restrict the color you can paint your house, what sort lawn ornaments you can have, and other such matters. You should have the right to decorate your house pretty much however you like. Same thing with business. If I wanted to open a resturant and it's 'theme' if you will, is that it celebrates tobacco use. It could be called, "Smokey Harley's". Liberal do-gooders like Rob Reiner would come down and demand that it should be shut down or laws should enacted that would ban smoking indoors. I should run my business in the manner I chose.

8. I agree with libertarians on the gun issue. In fact I'm only SLIGHTLY to the left of the NRA. Guns can be used for sport, can be used for self-defense, collecting them can become a hobby, and if all goes to shit they can be used for defense of the nation or if there is a coup (but this is unlikely).

9. People should be able to believe or not believe (like me) in religion. Government should remain secular at all times. Government or any other group should not get involved with interfer with the practice of religion.

10. People should have the right to form clubs, organizations, fraternaties, guilds, institutions, and associations. As long as the group is non-profit they should be allowed to allow anyone into the group or not allow anyone into the group. If the boy scouts don't want to let in gays so be it. If they want to be small-minded and ignorant let them be. Don't like it, don't give them money and don't enroll your children.

11. Hate crime laws are stupid. A law stating that if you kill or injure someone because of their actual or perceived race, color, religion, national origin, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or disability is worse than if you attacked them because of you wanted their money, you were envious, the bumped into you, stared at you, or any other reason is kinda dumb. Besides, why is age and disabilty on the list anyways? I've never heard of someone being stabbed because they were a teen in a middle-aged neighbourhood or a deaf person raped because they bumped into a gang of social-darwinsts. Those laws sometimes restrict free speech as well.

12. Prohibition causes more problems than it solves. Alcohol prohibition in the United States of America from 1919-1933 I believe; led to the rise of the mafia, killed thousands of people with toxic booze, and by some estimates more people actually started drinking during the outlawing of alcohol than before the ban. The current drug war costs billions of dollars. More than half of America's two million prisoners are in prison for petty drug violations. It cost (depending on the state) between $15,000-$35,000 per prisoner. Marijuana and other soft drug should be legalized and hard drug laws should be laxed. If a junkie or a drug dealer are not causing any problems or breaking the law (other than the drug laws) they should pretty much be left alone. Also some people mostly liberals (I'm one of you guys, but sometimes you are a pain in the ass) want tobacco outlawed. The Netherlands has had a lax drug policy and they have had very little problem with drugs compared to the USA. Now, smoking IS bad for you, but everyone knows that. If this was back when the tobacco companies kept it under the rug, I'd agree that something had to be done. The problem is people choose to do it anyways. So people like "Jabba the Rob" Reiner take it apon themselves to tell people what they can and cannot do with their own bodies. "That's what we need another prohibition. The one on alcohol worked so well and the one on drugs doesn't cost enough money. Let's outlaw something else. This time 20-35% of the population are users. This can't fail!"

13. Big government isn't a good thing and too much regulation hurts the economy. The problem is sometimes politicians get carried away with government when said government has worked before. It's too expensive to have a huge government and too much money gets wasted get to manage it. I see governments handling of the economy should be like someone holding a bird; too loose and it fly's away, too hard and you kill it. Government has to realize that you need to use a feather touch.


I also believe in government healthcare, public education, social sercurity, and enviromential protection. I have mix of right and left economic views. So, I'm a "Bill Mahr Libertarian".

Thanks for the offer anyways.

Very interesting. I think that's one of the best political summaries I've seen posted. Needless to say, there is much that I disagree with, particularly with regard to the profit motive, but we've had plenty of good debates here and I reckon you'll give us a good run for our money.

Once again, welcome!