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Penn Jillette is No Longer A Libertarian (lemmy.frozeninferno.xyz)
submitted 2 years ago by to c/politicalmemes@lemmy.world
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Seriously abridged version of this alongside the clown makeup removal meme In 2008, Jillette stated that there is not enough information to make an informed decision on global warming, that his gut told him it was not real, but his mind said that he cannot prove it.[48] As of 2014, he has changed his position and now believes that climate change is occurring.[49] He stated in 2008 that he "always" votes Libertarian,[47] and endorsed Libertarian Party nominee Gary Johnson for president in 2012[50][51][52] and 2016.[53] However, he participated in vote swapping in 2016 by voting for Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton in the swing state of Nevada, in exchange for "10 or 11" of his friends promising to vote for Johnson in blue states like California and New York.[54] In 2020, Jillette distanced himself from aspects of libertarianism, particularly surrounding COVID-19. In an interview with Big Think, he stated, "[A] lot of the illusions that I held dear, rugged individualism, individual freedoms, are coming back to bite us in the ass." He went on to elaborate, "[I]t seems like getting rid of the gatekeepers gave us Trump as president, and in the same breath, in the same wind, gave us not wearing masks, and maybe gave us a huge unpleasant amount of overt racism."[55]
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[–] 18 points 2 years ago* (8 children)

I wish this were true, but what you are describing is more akin to the Democratic party's platform. Laws by the Democratic party are passed so people and companies don't violate the principle of non-aggression. For example, besides climate change, regulation on banking is to prevent banking from taking people's money and just going out of business.

The Libertarian party doesn't support the principle of non-aggression in practice. By this definition, the Democratic party would be the true libertarians or liberals.

For example:

Australia: https://www.libertarians.org.au/wa_platform

Ending Climate Alarmism Policies: Repeal state laws and subsidies tied to net-zero targets. Let the free market decide the energy mix.

And like you said, the US one too: https://lp.org/environment-energy-resources/

When governments try to tackle environmental issues (which is hypocritical, as governments are the largest polluters), they use a punishing approach that rarely, if ever, solves the problem

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  • [–] 15 points 2 years ago (1 child)

    Progressive policies tend to line up with classic Libertarianism.

    Also, modern Libertarians tend to be literally just the dissolution of the federal government and their own personal rights at the expense of other's rights, none of which is Libertarianism.

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  • [–] 8 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (4 children)

    I think you misunderstood my point. What you're referring to as "libertarianism" and "the Libertarian party" is what I referred to as "American libertarianism."

    I don't believe true libertarianism exists in the USA. I agree with your point that the Democratic party most closely aligns with the theory of libertarianism. It sounds like you agree with the point I was trying to make, but maybe misinterpreted it.

    Edit: I want to add that the Libertarian party in America doesn't follow the principal of non-aggression as I understand it.

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  • [–] 4 points 2 years ago* (1 child)

    Oh yeah, I think I was confusing in my response. I should have said:

    All libertarian parties both in and outside of the United States don't ascribe to your interpretation of the theory of libertarianism.

    I included Australia as an example, but here is Canada's platform as well.

    https://libertarian.on.ca/platform/2011/environment Agreements among neighbours would be another factor that would replace top-down regulations.

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