tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28755195.post1253177607119558926..comments2023-09-25T04:26:51.568-06:00Comments on The Barefoot Bum: Friedman on LibertarianismLarry Hamelinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08788697573946266404noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28755195.post-16381235558309050592017-12-23T04:14:31.430-07:002017-12-23T04:14:31.430-07:00No argument there, mon frere.No argument there, mon frere.Larry Hamelinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08788697573946266404noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28755195.post-9345356980137281422017-12-22T20:42:33.604-07:002017-12-22T20:42:33.604-07:00What really kills me about libertarians and especi...What really kills me about libertarians and especially randroids is the constant refrain in (but certainly not limited to) Atlas Shrugged that life is about self-actualization. That it's about doing productive things that you love. But in reality, they only care about this freedom for those who are rich enough to be independently wealthy (all of the Atlas Shrugged "heroes" fell into this category).<br /><br />In my family, money was used as a control mechanism. The threat of being kicked out of the house and having to go live under a bridge during the Great Recession was used as a control mechanism by my parents. In Ireland up until recently, and still today in many traditionalist parts of the Catholic world, every family wanted a priest. Today, many families want a university professor, for much the same reason. My family was/is one of these.<br /><br />9 years ago while working on windmill designs after failing (like so many others of my generation) to land a job during the Great Recession after getting out of college , I was handed a list of four graduate schools by my parents. I was told that I would have to apply to each of these four schools, and that I could have the "choice" out of which of these schools I got into, to go to for graduate school.<br /><br />The implicit threat was if I didn't go along with it, I could be kicked out of the house and forced to go live under a bridge or something during the Great Recession. So I did, I caved in, even though I wanted to continue working on my windmills. <br /><br />Had I become that "barefoot bum" living under a bridge living off of scraps, building windmills out of scraps and parts bought from beggared money, what would I have been according to the randroids? A "moocher". A "looter". A "parasite". <br /><br />But during the Great Recession, I will never forget, clever people in "tent cities", the solar power systems that they built out of "useless scraps". I will never forget. It was them, and not the "Galt's Gulchers", who were at the forefront of that sort of thing.Dustin Vinland Jarlhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06321791031988119649noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28755195.post-8661447211538240582017-12-17T08:53:28.799-07:002017-12-17T08:53:28.799-07:00The link to the Friedman PDF is broken.The link to the Friedman PDF is broken.Siggyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01825209502285712140noreply@blogger.com