HabitableZone

Flame » in reply to Nor do I

Point taken

But to be fair, just because Heinlein reportedly engaged in a menage a trois with L. Ron Hubbard (Google "Heinlein wifeswapping") and Rand was simultaneously atheist and pro-choice does not necessarily indicate their political philosophies were problematic. Still, it does tell you quite a bit about the ideological (in)consistency of their followers.

The Libertarian phenomenon I alluded to is not new. Basically, Libertarians are Anarchists with property. Anarchism preceded Socialism (indeed, it was its precursor), and it also shares much in common philosophically with modern Conservatism. But the Anarchists not only rejected government, they went a step further and rejected private enterprise as well. They felt that if it was necessary to conduct political and economic activity as a group, that it could be done completely democratically, by the vote of those in the organization. Companies and corporations could still exist, but all stock would be owned by the employees. There would still be bosses, but they would be salaried professionals hired by the "associates" (god! how I detest that word). The anarchists visualized capitalism without individual ownership of property OR state regulation and planning. The means of production and their management would be owned and decided by the workers, not by the bosses or the government.

In the nineteenth century there were numerous successful implementations of this concept--I have spoken here before at length how Cuban immigrants and their "social clubs" provided recreation, cultural events, community services, education and even low cost medical insurance to cigar factory workers in late 19th century Tampa--in spite of fierce opposition from the Gringo power structure. Fortunately, the cigar factories were a cash cow even the Crackers benefited from. This system was not invented in Tampa. These mutual aid societies were a continuation of an institution that thrived in Cuba, and which had been imported from Europe. The entire community benefited from these co-ops, even those who were not dues-paying members. The clubs hired people and purchased goods and services from the society at large. And there were no entrepreneurs, owners or capitalists involved. Just workers

Libertarians are just Anarchists who cannot imagine any social life without a hobnail capitalist boot on their neck providing them with the paternalistic authority they crave. I guess RWA is as good a term as any.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Ybor_City#The_Mutual_Aid_Societies_.28social_clubs.29

Ybor City (/ˈiːbɔr/ ee-bor) is a historic neighborhood that includes the Ybor City Historic District in Tampa, Florida. It is located just northeast of downtown Tampa and north of Port Tampa Bay. The neighborhood has distinct architectural, culinary, cultural, and historical legacy that reflects its multi-ethnic composition. It was unique in the American South as a prosperous manufacturing community built and populated almost entirely by immigrants.

Ybor City was founded as an independent town in 1885 by a group of cigar manufacturers led by Vicente Martinez-Ybor and was annexed by Tampa in 1887. The original population was mostly composed of Cuban and Spanish immigrants who worked in the cigar factories. Italian and Eastern-European Jewish immigrants followed shortly thereafter and established many retail shops, farms and grocery stores, box factories, print shops, and other enterprises which catered to the cigar industry and its workers. Beginning in the 1890s, neighborhood residents founded mutual aid societies, labor organizations, newspapers in several languages, and many social and civic organizations, helping to create a vibrant civil society that blended the residents' different cultures of origin into a new "Latin" culture unique to Tampa.

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