Comments on: Some Libertarians Need Social Skills

By: Mark Milton

Mark Milton — Sat, 30 Jun 2012 11:04:13 +0000

I get your point but I find it ironic you were essentially doing a “do as I say not as I do” the reality is people will never see eye to eye on every issue and as for your comments on RT and other media outlets you imply that “doing your own research” won’t mean getting unbiased information. I take everything with a grain of salt regardless of the source every person has an agenda or a worldview

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Tue, 19 Jun 2012 07:00:22 +0000

LRC and RT aren’t bad news sources. They’re biased, but so are Reason and Cato. You really shouldn’t be getting your news only from libertarian feeds anyway.

By: Stephen Littau

Stephen Littau — Thu, 14 Jun 2012 15:51:07 +0000

I think if we are ever going to make a dent in the direction of this country, libertarians need to learn how to coalition build on issues where there is common ground. Libertarians will not be in the power position in either house of congress anytime soon, therefore; we must learn how to identify allies in power when we can. When there are allies in the GOP, we should concentrate on fiscal policy/shrinking government and when there are Dems who share common ground on civil liberties/the war on (some) drugs we should work with them. Will the GOP ever go as far as we want on fiscal policy/shrinking government as libertarians do? No, but we can move the needle in the right direction. Will Dems ever go as far as we would like on civil liberties/the war on (some) drugs? No, but we can work with them to repeal the Patriot Act and decriminalize/legalize marijuana as a first step.

To accomplish any of this, we need to be better about using social skills as you outlined here.

By: Zach

Zach — Thu, 14 Jun 2012 06:12:10 +0000

Fantastic post!!!

By: tarran

tarran — Wed, 13 Jun 2012 01:49:34 +0000

This is a vary timely post.

It comes down to what one’s ultimate goal is. If one wants to convince, one has to stay calm and be polite and respectful.

If one wants to lash out because they are having a bad day and are tired of being painted as both members of an inconsequential fringe philosophy as well as the cause of all the problems of society because of the way we sabotage government, the Internet is a great place to lash out at people with few consequences.

Of course, the question is do we want to win, or lose while feeling good…

I must admit that all to often, I’ve gone over to the dark side and lashed out.