things you're secretly kinda libertariany about

I don't think children should be required to attend school.

totally disagree with u here

magic runes

I dunno about orphans, but don't think schooling is the central question there.

xp yeah I know my Dewey well enough to have p mixed feelings about my school views

it's pretty hard to argue that a 12 y/o can make informed and rational decisions about their future and the value of education

esp w/ dead parents

re: guns, I'm pretty comfortable with the federal status quo, I think states with useless 'assault-weapon' bans should alter or repeal them. Would not be averse to suppressors being easier to acquire as there's basically no negative to their use by civilians.

'makes it easier to murder someone and not get caught' seems like it might contain some negative somewhere

eh, I think 12 year olds can make decisions as informed & rational about their futures & educations as most adults do

(which is obviously "not well")

there are pretty concrete differences between how a 12 y/o's brain works and how a 30 y/o's brain works and there are scientific reasons for why teenagers are more irrational than adults

Yep. Adolescent brain research is fascinating to me.

The parts of the brain that are responsible for decision making aren't fully developed until the early 20s iirc.

take away their drivers licenses, then, let them walk to whatever they want to do with their time

but I think there are a lot of children for whom formal schooling has v little value & I don't see why they should be forced to do something that has v little value. & given the quality of education most American children get, I don't see that much is lost for them qua their futures in our service-oriented futures.

you are not gonna sweet talk me w/ this take away their drivers licenses talk

12 year olds don't have drivers licenses

by the time you can get a drivers license you don't have to attend school anymore

xxp That'll do wonders for equality of opportunity.

i firmly believe all children should be educated by gangs

we should demolish the boy & girl scouts and give every child a gun

I guess that is where I get kinda libertarian-y

'makes it easier to murder someone and not get caught' seems like it might contain some negative somewhere

i believe all children should be educated by other children with swords

gets it^

but I think there are a lot of children for whom formal schooling has v little value & I don't see why they should be forced to do something that has v little value. & given the quality of education most American children get, I don't see that much is lost for them qua their futures in our service-oriented futures.

― Euler, Monday, February 13, 2012 10:25 AM (6 minutes ago) Bookmark

this is an argument for increasing the quality of education in america, not for increasing the number of street urchins

Free speech! But this is pretty easy for a liberal in the USA. I stuggle with some of our newer hate crime laws. I support the idea of punishing people who engage in racially motivated intimidation and violence, but I'm uncomfortable with how the state starts getting involved with right and wrong thinking.

I love how much harder it is to sue for slander in the USA than elsewhere.

was replying to points about adolescent brain structure

wrt say nine year olds quitting school: if we could eliminate the schooling requirement I'd like to see adult education take a step forward to compensate, because it might be that lots of idiot children will realize they can get something of value in night classes etc. sigh: but it's hard when you have to make money. wage slavery makes these things hard.

my thinking on this is a hazy idea that the requirement of public school went hand in hand with a certain kind of economy, or better an *expectation* of a certain kind of economy, that indeed *did* exist, but has now passed, but now there's traction & we don't think about what will come next. but we ought to.

those kids are in adult education classes, you need to learn how to read and do math before you can take night classes

i would like to see a wider variety of educational approaches available to everyone

including gangs

i would like to see a wider variety of educational approaches available to everyone

― lag∞n, Monday, February 13, 2012 10:35 AM (21 seconds ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

otm esp the gangs part

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_Nx1WBgjY9RA/SbfA6dPUezI/AAAAAAAAAP8/qZgaCClYyA0/s400/west+all.jpeg

but I think there are a lot of children for whom formal schooling has v little value & I don't see why they should be forced to do something that has v little value. & given the quality of education most American children get, I don't see that much is lost for them qua their futures in our service-oriented futures.

― Euler, Monday, February 13, 2012 10:25 AM (9 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

poor children, for example. i'm sure there are plenty of 13 year olds whose families would be better off in the short-term if they could get a job at McDonald's instead of going to school

f. altho I'm for gubernment health care, we would prob be healthier if we let literally anybody practice medicine than the racket we got now

Are we going to ship all these hypothetical 12 year olds who have quit school to countries that allow 12 year olds to work?

we aren't gonna, the free market is gonna

oh, I meant "we" in the "secret libertarians who are going to get rich from our new libertarian paradise" way

despite my bedrock commitment to nearly total liberty i dont think invisible hands should be allowed to touch children

I'm pretty libertarian about shoveling my sidewalks. If people want to walk their dogs or walk places on the sidewalk in front of my house they can clean it off themselves

lol u r a terrible lazy monster

g. most american sports leagues should be declared cartels and I'd be cool w/ the hypercapitalist euro soccer model (otoh would be cool also w/ green bay packers socialism being forced on every team in the nation)

My cousin thinks it should be easier to practice medicine. "Why do I need to go to someone who spent years studying all that complex stuff when I just need someone to mend an ankle or prescribe meds for an ear infection?"

I tried to explain why his thinking was obviously problematic, but he wouldn't budge.

^^^He also doesn't think there's any reason for anyone to get an education beyond literacy and basic life skills.

He thinks cross-cultural stories about dragons are evidence for men co-existing with dinosaurs.

he's otm tho

relegation and promotion would be awesomely hilarious additions to the american sports scene but thats neither here nor there, m8

tbh, a little annoyed when friends renew their cyclical campaign flirtation with Ron Paul. It's always couched as this, "yeah, there are things I don't agree with, but there are other things I do agree with, and besides, the country's in such bad shape we need a radical change!" argument. I can only shake my head and remind myself how much better the country is, even hurting, than it would be under Ron Paul, with all his attendant destructive policies, brilliantly presented/marketed as this philosophy of proud self-reliance but which boils down in the details to "fuck all y'all." Or more specifically, "the states should have the right to fuck all y'all."

I'm not very libertarian myself about too much beyond the usual stuff. I even walk around the neighborhood once in a while picking up trash (because it's infringing on my right now to look at beer cans at the bus stop). What is the convoluted libertarian stance on abortion these days? Is it "keep your hands off my body!" or "keep your hands off my unborn baby!"?

How about tort reform? Are libertarians pro frivolous lawsuits or con?

I think most people are con frivolous lawsuits tbh

I mean not lawyers obv

relegation and promotion would be awesomely hilarious additions to the american sports scene but thats neither here nor there, m8

I spend a lot of time thinking about how this would work, it wouldn't even be too hard w/ baseball

It would be pretty hard w/ baseball in that you'd have to blow up everything about player development and how hundreds of minor league teams work and TV contracts (local and national) and pretty much everything else about the sport.

xpost "I should be able to sue whomever I choose! Who are you to limit my personal powers accorded me by the constitution!?"

sometimes a secret libertarian just has to blow shit up

w/ a free market nyc would have like 20 mlb teams and morbs wouldn't have to be a mets fan

every subway stop has its own team