What Makes People Become Libertarians?

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Communes don't have individuals?

Only if autistic mean devoid of compassion. By cutting themself from a part of their emotions libertarians cut themself from their humanist part. Though they're not always rational, just to see their position on climate changes. But you're right on a point about libertarianism be frequent of autistics; It come mostly from black and white thinking, something I've seen a lot from libertarians. Government is considered as pure black, and white is anything that lower the power of government; overall this is rigid thinking.

Apparently, it hasn't dawned on some of our members that most libertarians are not made of straw, something they would have known had they only read the OP, or say, actually talked to a few before forming immovable opinions.

I think even Haidt would be careful in saying less compassion is not the same as being devoid of it. Even then, the lower compassion is mainly inferred from low agreeableness and the Moral Foundation Survey , and based on what we know about autism, low agreeableness (cognitive empathy) is not the same as low empathy. In fact it can be the opposite, some people who are high in agreeableness can be manipulative because they have the resources to do so.

Haidt does seem to suggest there are traits shared with libertarian and autistic thinking, such as systemizing, analytical, logical, etc. The difference is the openness to experience domain, which is elevated in libertarians, and about normally distributed in autistics. I am sort of interested in if this paints a picture of libertarians as a whole, or if there are subgroups of libertarians (hipster high O and normal systemizing group, autistic normal O and high systemizing group, etc.) skewing the averages.

What is this obsession with compassion that the left has? With you people anyone against big government is automatically devoid of compassion. Big government is not the the sole source of compassion and it's not even a good source of it.

My big problem with the Libertarian party in the US is that most Libertarians here are really just "Libertarians." Few of them seem to take away the big picture philosophy behind it, and instead use it as some sort of window dressing for recycling a bunch of the same old crap into a new generation of politics.

I feel that the vast majority of those who feel they have to label their political beliefs are in a very real danger of ignoring the big picture and automatically rejecting fact that does not fit their single word descriptor.

Ironically enough, I put it down to an inability to empathize with people they don't agree with, so they assume the worst motives possible because they cannot imagine another reason why someone would think differently than they do (this is not a problem confined to the left, but is more hypocritical coming from them given their positioning). A great example is entitlement programs; to too many on the left, the only possible reason to oppose them is that you lack compassion and hate the working class/poor, without ever acknowledging the possibility that you think there are better ways to help the poor, think the programs are good but the execution is bad, think that letting more people keep more of their own money is better all around, etc.

I don't think we really have too many cookie cutter libertarians here, most of us are pretty idiosyncratic, and use the descriptor of 'libertarian' only because it's the closest we have to a short hand for our politics; I only self apply the term because it's easier than explaining the myriad of positions I hold across the political spectrum every time I meet someone.

Compassion and benevolence can only be practiced by snatching money out of the taxpayers pockets and wasting most of it along the way. To suggest differently is hatred! Just pure hatred!

Well, I find it hard to see things from a statist point of view. It's like asking someone to see something from an arsonist's point of view, or a murderer's, or a jaywalkers (actually, that last one is pretty easy)... I find statism to be an abhorrent philosophy, which is why I'm an anarchist (ish, I favour an ultraminimalist court system).

I don't understand where this idea that anarchists/libertarians all have a monolithic philosophy comes from though. I mean, I understand that *statists* all share the same viewpoint, whether or not they favour a welfare state, banning homosexuality, think the government should own all the companies, believe the arts should be state funded... but libertarians? Some would fund free healthcare (with their own money; this is the view I'm favourable to), others wouldn't. Some would do all the drugs they can, others think people shouldn't be messing with their body in such a way (another view I'm favourable to). But they don't believe in imposing their view on anyone else.

And, I find it ironic that people who hold certain unempathetic views are complaining about a lack of empathy.

Anyway, this whole thread was "necro'd" purely for "trolling" purposes: just to get normal people riled up with the usual Libertarian show. And, I've already tattled.

And, I tattled to not just any moderator, but to the most sadistic and brutal moderator that WrongPlanet has. Delete your posts now, or prepare for a savage spanking.

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Gamer dug this one up, not Dox.
But someone who's username is spelled something like AnnoyingParrot necro'd another thread and trolled it, and trolled it, and TROLLED it until it had to be locked.
Talk about someone needing to be savagely spanked.....

One becomes libertarian upon fully realizing the hypocrisy of expecting other people to not meddle in ones values while simultaneously meddling in other peoples' values.