Monday, October 31, 2016

OMG Peter Thiel is at the National Press Club and...

....endorsed Donald Trump by saying government can work and cited the Manhattan Project as an example. He is also concerned about a "trade bubble." I just moved him from the libertarian- lite category to that of statist. He is really supporting Trump because of Trump's statist positions. UPDATE He says his idea of a libertarian world is one where government is more efficient. He used as an example the F35 fighter plane which can't fly in the rain. He said he would like to see a government where the F35 can fly in the rain and be made cheaper.

13 comments:

  1. A Constitutionalist and libertarian can support better, cheaper F35 fighters.

    That said, from the rest of his speech, I think that Thiel thinks the state/government exists to help society flourish. That makes him a statist and no different than Trump, Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, etc.

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  2. Outside of giving the liberal Gawker, Deadspin and it's affiliates a taste of their own medicine, there really isn't much for a libertarian to support with this guy.

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  3. "Voters are tired of hearing conservative politicians say the government never works. They know the government wasn't always this broken. The Manhattan Project, the Interstate Highway system, the Apollo program... whatever you think of these ventures, you cannot doubt the competence of the government that got them done.
    We have fallen very far from that standard. We cannot allow free market ideology to serve for an excuse for decline".

    That is the product of a mind poisoned by statism. He has no clue. What a shame, but I never really thought he was with us to begin with.

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    1. Really dumb. What does free market ideology have to do with any of that? Laissez-faire economics has nothing to do with whether government can throw tons of money at something and the engineers and private companies they hire can design and complete the production.

      We know that because of Bureaucracy and Politics that the projects will likely cost more than they could have, will take longer to complete and that cronies and politicians will get rich off the projects.

      Is he intentionally conflating economics and politics?

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  4. "He says his idea of a libertarian world is one where government is more efficient."

    Never happen. By definition, Gov can't be efficient. Business has P&L and Gov doesn't. Without P&L, Gov has no incentive to be efficient. In fact, it has every incentive to be the opposite of efficient.

    Politicians who promise to "make Gov run more like a business" are either liars or completely clueless as to the nature of Gov. Gov is intrinsically inefficient... except when it's being evil. Then Gov can be extremely efficient.

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  5. Except as Wenzel has been posting for the last year or two, Trump isn't some non-interventionist like Thiel and Justin Rainmondo think he is. While he has less of a chance to start a war with Russia, there is nothing that says that he won't continue the mindless disaster that is the Middle East.

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  6. Of course Trump is a statist. Nobody but a statist would even want the job of being CEO of the State. While voting is an exercise in futility and only provides cover for the real rulers, I like the idea of Trump winning for 2 reasons.

    First, the scum Trump sends into fits I hate more than I ever could hate him. Especially Republican Trotskyites, paid shill presstitutes, Hollywood bimbos, and all speech Nazis.

    Second, doesn't it make more sense that "government" wouldn't work as well under him, considering the serving members(of the Ruler's front men) of "government" that hate his guts? Can you really see Ryan or Reid helping to pass Trumps agenda? Easy to see those 2 working with the Queen of the Damned.

    If you think anybody who would actually diminish "government" would ever get this close I want what you're smoking. So the next best thing is to have "gridlock". Of the 2 statists running Trump is the best chance for that.

    In the end the State is always destroyed, not because of opposition from you libertarians or we anarchists. It destroys itself. That is the natural conclusion of its activities. In the mean time all we can hope for is the most at war with itself "government" we can get under the circumstances.

    So I don't advocate for, vote for, support, or agree with Trump, I still hope he wins. It could be discombobulating in a lot of ways.

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    1. Although I agree with Robert Wenzel about the many many many dangers of a trump presidency, watching Hillary Clinton go down like a cheap hooker is thrilling.

      If he doesn't prosecute her, and her family/enablers, then he will soon be a lame duck.

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  7. That is not an impressive or bold statement for a supposed libertarian to make. Its nice that he is less of an extremist statist than some others, but he is still a statist many think of as a libertarian and that makes him dangerous and in need of strong rebuke.

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  8. It's easy to be a holier than thou libertarian and "rebuke Trump". Yes, at times we should.

    But you cannot equate Trump's positions on trade and mediocrity on foreign policy with the very real risk of nuclear Armageddon. That is what HRC brings. I don't want to see mass death and destruction.

    Please see the forest from the trees. It matters that Trump is absolutely despised by the establishment. It matters that the SJW marxists seethe at him. It matters that he has consistently stated his desire to make peace with Russia.

    The Green candidate came out and said the same thing on foreign policy, risking her base by noting where Trump is objectively better for human life than HRC.

    If Trump wins, Wendell and Gus purist ilk can gloat and say I told you so every time Trump does something stupid. And he would be right to say that we should have expected stupidity.

    But I would have some quiet satisfaction that we may have avoided another world war. Honestly what issue could be more vital?

    So I think the culture-tarians of Hoppe, Rockwell, Gottfried, Block, DiLorenzo, etc are right on this one.

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  9. Perry, I was calling for the rebuke of Peter Thiel, Trump was not on my radar.

    Again, Thiel has a reputation of being libertarian but he clearly is not. As a result, he can do a lot of damage to the meaning of libertarianism in the minds of others, whether he intends to or not, and that is why we must speak up loudly and point out this error before more damage occurs.

    A counterfeit is more dangerous the more real it looks.

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