Comments on: VIDEO: Libertarianism v Conservatism Debate

By: Jared

Jared — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 17:54:52 +0000

In my opinion Sara did the best job in this debate, but the whole thing was rather difficult to listen to. Liya came across as loud-mouthed, agitatedly inarticulate, and hostile. I agree with ‘David’s’ assessment for the most part, although the Rachel Maddow remark threw me. The more Daniel spoke, the more obvious his glaring inconsistencies and naivete became. I’m surprised neither of the libertarians directly called the traditionalist conservatives out on their equation of government with society.

By: Daniel

Daniel — Thu, 14 Jul 2011 01:26:45 +0000

This is just innacurate…libertarianism believes the less government, the better. Conservatism traditionally sticks to this as well. Liberalism is different in the fact that it has socialist and communist roots that tend to believe that the government is of the people, by the people, and for the people and government should work to help people directly.

When I say "socialist and communist roots", don't think I mean this in a bad way. I don't view communism or socialism as scary like most of us Americans do. It's just a different perspective.

Personally, after delving much deeper into Libertarianism, I find that they really are the only people that have answers to our problems. It all revolves around getting off of the Keynesian ideas of economics and understanding Austrian economics.

By: Conservatives v. Libertarians « The American Tory

Conservatives v. Libertarians « The American Tory — Mon, 27 Jun 2011 20:07:30 +0000

[...] Students for Liberty and America’s Future Foundation took up the debate which can be watched here. from → Uncategorized ← “I think I pricked that one…” [...]

By: Prometheusforliberty

Prometheusforliberty — Tue, 15 Feb 2011 11:35:34 +0000

Dam, we dropped the ball on federalism.

By: Audrey the Liberal

Audrey the Liberal — Wed, 05 Jan 2011 21:44:23 +0000

I personally believe libertarianism to be a form of liberalism, having very little to do with conservatism.

By: bdawg

bdawg — Thu, 16 Sep 2010 19:12:53 +0000

"Libertarians clobber Republicans"

Conservatives =/= Republicans.

By: Andrew

Andrew — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 01:39:36 +0000

Dear Sara,

That was a brilliant and articulate speech. I always enjoy watching Libertarians clobber Republicans in debate. The "what is inserted into my body" part was especially smart because it should remind the audience that conservatives once supported the complete subjection of woman's bodies to men, a repugnant and stupid idea.

By the way are you single? Just kidding.

By: David

David — Thu, 12 Aug 2010 21:50:04 +0000

My impression:

The way I saw it, the libertarians simply made fewer mistakes than the conservatives.

Both sides sounded flawed. The conservatives shot themselves in the foot when it came to general logos, namely on the drug issue. More powerful conservative debaters certainly exist.

Likewise, despite sounding "smarter," the libertarians made themselves come off as amoral, hostile to virtue, elitist, and borderline anarchic. It is the sort of patronizing presentation that will crush a libertarian when it comes to addressing mainstream America* ; of the negative ethos that sentences you to 3rd party irrelevance by decree of the median voter. More powerful libertarian persuaders certainly exist. I was reminded of Rachel Maddow.

Too much passion, reliance on strawman, and above all else, too much hostility for the opposing view. They would've gained points by taking care to sound equally calm as the conservatives.

Both teams need to keep practicing. The conservatives most definitely, but the libertarians are not exempt. Its not what you say, its how you say it.

~David~

*[believe it or not, the audience of "mainstream" America primarily consists of apolitical individuals *not* in the 18-34 year demographic. If you can't frame your philosophy in a manner that'd get ma and pa from Kentucky on board, nothing you say matters. Regardless of your believes, you must *sound* like you hold their values. Candidate Obama knew this. When will libertarians understand?]

By: Fusionism and Liberaltarianism « Libertas

Fusionism and Liberaltarianism « Libertas — Sun, 01 Aug 2010 20:44:51 +0000

[...] network of student liberty groups, recently hosted with America’s Future Foundation a debate between libertarianism and conservatism that went well received. Later, Clark Ruper of Students [...]

By: Vicente

Vicente — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 02:55:24 +0000

Thanks to everyone involved in organizing the debate, I found it really interesting. I also posted recently to the "Is Conservative a Dirty Word" article about this, but I'm interested in what the debaters and others think about the future of the historical libertarian/conservative coalition in the US. If many conservative positions are as "perverse" and "grotesque" as Sara says (I'm not being facetious here, I agree with the characterization), how can libertarians continue to ally with them? And how can the movement for liberty expect support from the many people who are repelled by social conservatism/moralizing/authoritarianism when it so tied up with it politically?