An anti-government activist on disability

[Scam of God]

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http://www.salon.com/news/opinion/joe_conason/2010/03/26/vanderboegh/index.html

I highlighted what I thought were the interesting bits.

What angers me, above all, is the disservice this fellow does in the name of libertarianism (as is typical of all follows of von Hayek and his fellow inferiors of the Austrian School). Rather than rise above the morass, this particular untermenschen is more than willing to sink into it, and, along the way, ally himself with Confederate revanchists, Christians, and other such numskull inferiors. His willingness to initiate force against his betters indicates to me that he is an anti-populist populist, and nothing more.

[Scam of God]

Anyone who has ever attended a Tea Party event should not be eligible for social security, medicare, or unemployment benefits. They should also have to pay a reasonable fee to use public roads.

Yeah, 'cause we've heard so many tea party activists advocate for the complete abolition of the welfare state and public roads

Why do you even defend them, Vepres? The Tea Partiers are scum, white trash, populistic, slave-moraled scum who, if their God did exist, would deem to sweep them away with fire. They are not our kind.

[Scam of God]

Why do you even defend them, Vepres? The Tea Partiers are scum, white trash, populistic, slave-moraled scum who, if their God did exist, would deem to sweep them away with fire. They are not our kind.

Yet a majority of Americans believe the average member of the Tea Party movement has a better understanding of the issues facing America today than the average member of Congress.   Fancy that.

A majority of Americans are also downright subhuman.

[Scam of God]

Anyone who has ever attended a Tea Party event should not be eligible for social security, medicare, or unemployment benefits. They should also have to pay a reasonable fee to use public roads.

Yeah, 'cause we've heard so many tea party activists advocate for the complete abolition of the welfare state and public roads

Why do you even defend them, Vepres? The Tea Partiers are scum, white trash, populistic, slave-moraled scum who, if their God did exist, would deem to sweep them away with fire. They are not our kind.

You know, you can disagree with people without totally dismissing them as irrelevant and unintelligent.

You can point out flaws of the positions of those you disagree with without being arrogant (though few on this forum seem to understand that concept).

To the contrary: the style is not only as important as the substance; the style is the substance. The old dictum that "the personal is the political" is resolved in me. It is impossible to understand my position without it.

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Opebo and Einzige, I must point out that you are both committing the sweeping generalization fallacy far more than is possible reasonable.

All social interactions rely on sweeping generalizations. Every time I choose what I want to eat for the day, I begin by deciding what places I don't like to eat at, despite the fact I've not had everything on the menu. Your "tolerance" is liberal, though you yourself claim not to be. I will judge the cretins as they present themselves to be judged, and I find them wanting.

[Scam of God]

Opebo and Einzige, I must point out that you are both committing the sweeping generalization fallacy far more than is possible reasonable.

All social interactions rely on sweeping generalizations. Every time I choose what I want to eat for the day, I begin by deciding what places I don't like to eat at, despite the fact I've not had everything on the menu. Your "tolerance" is liberal, though you yourself claim not to be. I will judge the cretins as they present themselves to be judged, and I find them wanting.

Yes, but you're basing this on anecdotes and the behavior of a few loonies. While the tea party largely has no central leadership, public figures of the movement have never condoned these acts, and thus I give them the benefit of the doubt. Sure, some of the tea partiers are morons, but there are libertarians who are ignorant morons as well, same with liberals.

A challenge, then: demonstrate to me one protester who is consistent in his views and arrives at them by way of either empirical reason or philosophical deduction, as opposed to heavy-handed emotionalism, and I may suspend judgment. But I have no reason whatsoever as present to regard them at any more than they actually are - unenlightened, uneducated, and inferior rubes who have all the annoying qualities I find so grating in masses of people.

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Moreover, I find it highly unlikely that the so-called 'leadership' of the Tea Baggers is wholly innocent of the affairs of individual groupings. There is a concept called 'plausible deniability', and, I suspect, they take high advantage of it.

[Scam of God]

Opebo and Einzige, I must point out that you are both committing the sweeping generalization fallacy far more than is possible reasonable.

All social interactions rely on sweeping generalizations. Every time I choose what I want to eat for the day, I begin by deciding what places I don't like to eat at, despite the fact I've not had everything on the menu. Your "tolerance" is liberal, though you yourself claim not to be. I will judge the cretins as they present themselves to be judged, and I find them wanting.

Yes, but you're basing this on anecdotes and the behavior of a few loonies. While the tea party largely has no central leadership, public figures of the movement have never condoned these acts, and thus I give them the benefit of the doubt. Sure, some of the tea partiers are morons, but there are libertarians who are ignorant morons as well, same with liberals.

A challenge, then: demonstrate to me one protester who is consistent in his views and arrives at them by way of either empirical reason or philosophical deduction, as opposed to heavy-handed emotionalism, and I may suspend judgment. But I have no reason whatsoever as present to regard them at any more than they actually are - unenlightened, uneducated, and inferior rubes who have all the annoying qualities I find so grating in masses of people.

You take this to the extreme. Really, this is akin to saying that all libertarians are white-supremist anarcho-capitalists who buy into conspiracy theories.

I'm lambasting them for being libertarians; I'm lambasting them for being conservatives who adopt, where convenient, the language and phraseology of libertarianism and apply it to decidedly un-and-anti-libertarian ends. In this I have opposed, and will continue to oppose, them.