In a piece called “Tea-Party Jacobins,” NY Times, May 27, 2010, (hat-tip to LRC blog), Mark Lilla calls Tea Party activists a “libertarian mob,” since they proclaim the belief “that they can do everything themselves if they are only left alone” and they have only one “Garbo-like thing to say, they want to be left alone.”
Hmmmm. Couldn’t have said it better m’self. Consider me now a card-carrying member of the libertarian mob.
Honk (on my comment page) if you agree…
For those of you who aren’t sure, I’ve put together a questionnaire: YES answers carry 1 point. NO carry 0 points.
ARE YOU PART OF THE LIBERTARIAN MOB?
1. In the last ten years, did you vote twice, once for Ron Paul and once for some guy you don’t remember? And did you switch channels the other years?
2. Even though you love writing, reading and thinking, did you go into business because you figured you’d never have a voice in academics and journalism.
3. Do you stand trial for every speed-ticket you get just to give the city a taste of its own medicine?
4. Do you think Alan Dershowitz and Gloria Allred are exhibit A and B for tort reform?
5. Do you not only have GLD in your portfolio, but gold stocks, a gold account with Gold Money, a vault in Australia and a hole in the garden with coins in it?
6. At dinner-table conversations, do you skip between things like fluoridation, capital destruction, Pickett’s Charge, and Jekyll Island, without missing a beat?
7. Have you actually used a gun?
8. Have you employed illegal aliens and boasted about it?
9. Is your idea of the news Gerald Celente on Youtube ?
10. Would you just as soon bomb fight (OK, we don’t want any visits from the Feds here) Washington, DC. as Iran?
(ATTENTION: NO. 10 IS NOT A COUNSEL TO VIOLENCE. IT’S HUMOR).
Minimum threshold to be a mobster – 5/10.
7/10 makes you a “Neo-Jacobin” (in libertarian, non-violent terms, not the way the NY TImes smear was intended)
Answer yes to all 10, and you get to man the (intellectual) guillotines.
Honk.
“Left alone” as in similar to what happens when I mow the lawn, and usually ends just after I stop?
L-mob Honk!
Double honk..Regarding D.C.; maybe a big sinkhole like the recent one in Guatemala…Just nature taking its course..
Nature is bizarre…Goes and whacks the poor things in New Orleans – as though they didn’t have enough on their plates with Katrina last year.
Am I imagining things or have all the natural disasters been in the south?
No real libertarian owns GLD unless he/she hasn`t read the prospectus.
Otherwise: Honk 🙂
(in Germany, the press perception of the Tea Parties is strangely similar, I thougt US media would be less surprised at people actually behaving like what people might expect genuine Americans to behave).
Well – you’re right about GLD..but you can trade it.
Actually, the weird thing is I don’t own gold.
There’s a saying that the US is a nation of Indians ruled by Swedes…
So maybe many people in the ruling class never come into contact with ordinary Americans or have a caricatured idea about them
Holy smokes, I aced it. I guess I have been in denial.
Never really thought of myself as a Jacobin, but have to admit that there are more than a few folks that I would have no trouble pulling the latch rope on.
No gold, but like the sap I am I never think to but it until it is high. Then can’t get myself to do it because I know it will drop like a rock again. Seen it too many times.
Chuckle.
The NY Times must be popping its blood vessels for it to start comparing libertarians to its own favorites..
Hiya! I just wish to give a huge thumbs up for the great data you might have here on this post. I will probably be coming again to mindbodypolitic.com for extra soon.
[I’m still surprised you ripped your card up.]
Saw this (and thought of your blog entry) it’s only one Person’s observation, but who would doubt it?:
So how does a person qualify as a potential domestic terrorist? Based on the training I have attended, here are characteristics that qualify:
* Expressions of libertarian philosophies (statements, bumper stickers)
* Second Amendment-oriented views (NRA or gun club membership, holding a CCW permit)
* Survivalist literature (fictional books such as “Patriots” and “One Second After” are mentioned by name)
* Self-sufficiency (stockpiling food, ammo, hand tools, medical supplies)
* Fear of economic collapse (buying gold and barter items)
* Religious views concerning the book of Revelation (apocalypse, anti-Christ)
* Expressed fears of Big Brother or big government
* Homeschooling
* Declarations of Constitutional rights and civil liberties
* Belief in a New World Order conspiracy
http://www.survivalblog.com/2011/03/beware_of_homeland_security_tr.html