Wierdest misconceptions of libertarianism?

[KBCraig]

I guess it just hasn't come up in conversation that much for me, outside a circle of people who already understand.

I do have to correct some people who assume I'll agree with them on gay marriage and immigration, just because I agree with them on gun rights. But it's fun watching their eyes twitch when I do. 

Kevin

[Dreepa]

I do have to correct some people who assume I'll agree with them on gay marriage and immigration, just because I agree with them on gun rights. But it's fun watching their eyes twitch when I do. 

Yeah many people think I am 'conservative'  but then they hear I am for legalize dope and allowing gays to get married and people say 'I thought you were conservative'  I say I am ... I am so conservative I really don't care what other people do.

[aries]

I get that too. Especially at campus republicans meetings. "Open borders? Do you realize what would happen? It'd be anarchy!"

[Lloyd Danforth]

I do have to correct some people who assume I'll agree with them on gay marriage and immigration, just because I agree with them on gun rights. But it's fun watching their eyes twitch when I do. 

Yeah many people think I am 'conservative'  but then they hear I am for legalize dope and allowing gays to get married and people say 'I thought you were conservative'  I say I am ... I am so conservative I really don't care what other people do.

More and more I try to posit the explanation as 'conservatives are libertarian' in the area of (name an area, fiscal, gun rights, etc.) and liberals are libertarian in the area of X. I then try to show how it is the libs that are consistant.  I try to never posit it as libertarians are like conservatives here and like liberals over here.

[KBCraig]

I usually redirect them in a totally unexpected direction. When someone rants about gay marriage, I ask them why anyone should have to get the government's permission to have a religious ceremony. Do we have licenses and fees for baptism? I take the opportunity of their confusion to explain that this is only an issue because the government has intruded into marriage, which is traditionally a religious matter. I make a play to their conservative traditional views, and it usually works, or at least stops the disagreement and starts them thinking.

Immigration is harder. Most agree on some level that competition for jobs is okay, but they're worried about the "social" costs to schools, hospitals, and services. So, I attack the notion that anyone is entitled to those things in the first place. Get the government out of charity and education, and the problem is solved. This one usually takes a lot more work to overcome, because people are just so used to the idea that those are the things that government does. I usually manage to persuade them that things would work out for the better if the government wasn't involved. Most still want a big fence and to know who is coming in, though.

Kevin

[Sweet Mercury]

I've gotten many replies when I told people I am a libertarian, which I now avoid doing, I use words like Capitalist, anarchocapitalist, etc, or just plain old conservative.

But what have you heard people THINK libertarianism is?

I've heard that they're democrat white supremacists

Moderates

The new reform party

Hmm, interesting topic.

Most of my freinds are pretty leftist, so they assume any time I mention libertarian economics or smaller government that I'm to be associated with modern Right Conservativism, as though I can't be fro both social and economic freedom.

People often also assume that all Libertarians are some sort of chaos loving anarchists (as opposed to principled anarchists and minarchists), or greedy capitalistas who have no compassion for other preople.

Also, people sometimes assume that all Libertarians are Randian to the core, with no room for deviation.

Lloyd Danforth also pointed out a good way to explain things to people: that for each individual issue there is at two extremes, the "libertarian" position or the "authoritarian" position with a large continuum in between. Libertarians are consistant on all issues, where as Liberals or Conservatives are generally contradictory in their political philosophy.

[error]

About the UCLA tasering incident, I got these weird comments:

I can't help but think that this type of thing would be even more common in a libertarian society. Property owners would be calling on the police to enforce all types of arbitrary rules on their property. Individuals like this guy would be brutalized under the guise of enforcing property rights. Od course this does happen quite a bit even now...

The point was to illustrate the absurdity of embracing a libertarian society (which Micheal Hampton the webmaster here regularly advocates).

Libertarians often over-simplify by saying that 'Life is not fair", or that individuals are wholly responsible for the consequences of their actions.

Also, remember that the argument that this is a publicly financed library goes out the window in a libertarian society because there would be no 'public' institutions.
Everything would be privatized...

So, Michael H. and other libertarians should not complain about this incident because things would likely be the same under their libertarian system.

[mr.apathy]

Libertarians are consistant on all issues, where as Liberals or Conservatives are generally contradictory in their political philosophy.

Thats why I'm a proud Independent.