| | There were these idiots in the libertarian movement who proclaimed to all and wide their adherence to "Living a Libertarian Life." This meant no FDIC bank accounts, no drivers licence, no vehicle registration, no social security benefits, etc., which meant, in turn, reliance upon the state public transportation systems, loss of vehicles seized by police the first time they were pulled over, etc.
No one - apart perhaps for some wilderness-living nut cases - managed to actually make a go of it. Those who apparently did actually depended upon others utilyzing the state services for them. It was total nonsense, but worse, it was pernicious nonsense, in that all those who attempted to practice it found themselves impoverished and incapable of promoting any real change - except for a few people, such as Wendy McElroy, who managed to make a career out of being holier than thou and selling books, articles and interviews to prove it.
I wrote a parody of it for a libertarian speech contest at a local libertarian convention, in which I substituted Loony for Libertarian, as in a person who is convinced that living on the moon will solve every problem. So, they live in high places to get closer to the moon. They build great towers for the same reason. And they live a Loonie life. Unfortunately for them (not for the rest of us), the Live a Loonie Life movement (from whence we get the term "lunatic," BTW, ) came to a sad end, without ever making it to the moon.
Of course, other people did make it to the moon. But they got there by means of rational science and engineering, not by "Living a Loonie Life."
I didn't win the speech contest, BTW, although I think, based on the expressions of some of the audience, that I came very close to convincing them to give up at least one central libertarian tenet - the non-aggression principle.
In fact, a couple people who I associated with that movement invited me to lunch, much to my surprise. They were very polite and asked me to expound on my opinions until one of them looked at her watch, made a hand signal, and they both got up and walked away without another word. I later discovered that our lunch ensured that I would not be a the conference at a critical juncture, where I might have made a go at dissent.
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