I'm 19 years old and I live in Winchester. I was born and raised in Keene and I'm currently going to River Valley, so I basically spend all my time in Keene. I'm planning on going to film school, and possibly planning on filming something this year(maybe) once I finally get a job and can afford a new camera.
I've always been interested in getting involved in activism, but I have never really found the opportunity. I'd guess that my politics are a lot further "left" than most people in this forum, but I think that there are a lot of issues I'd agree with most of you on and for everything else we could have some interesting debates.
Sorry for generalizing you as "right", but it's my impression that most people on this site would call themselves Libertarian.
Anyway, if there is anything you want to know, feel free to ask me.
[quote author=AnarchoEric link=topic=1527.msg16346#msg16346 date=1251862583]
…it's my impression that most people on this site would call themselves Libertarian.
[/quote]
The right considers "libertarians" to be far left. The left considers them to be far right. In reality, the left/right false dichotomy doesn't fit libertarianism and I think a lot of folks would be offended to be labeled as either. It's rooted in an opposition to aggression. Many here call themselves voluntaryist, meaning all interaction ought to be based in peaceful voluntary cooperation rather than through arbitrary authority backed by threats of violence. The rest of my philosophy stems from that deeply held belief.
Welcome, AnarchoEric!
How did you find out about us?
I really don't like the terms "left" and "right" very much either. I'm not 100% about voluntaryism, but it's the same thought as anarcho-capitalism right?
I'm saying that I would probably be considered to be left of center because I don't consider myself a capitalist. I believe that any kind of monetary system, even on a completely voluntary basis will inevitably lead to a power structure. I just don't see a society working that way for very long before it would become the exact thing it was trying to replace. I don't have any faith in the invisible hand of the free market.
I also agree that peaceful cooperation is the only real way to change things. I'm in no way for a revolution in any violent way because it will always leads to totalitarian systems.
What I said before wasn't very clear now that I look at it.
I first read about this site a while ago in the Keene Free Press and had given it a glance before. I mainly joined because I thought this would be the best website to try to start organizing protests.
I also just have a lot of spare time and I like to talk politics.
Welcome! ;D
Libertarianism has nothing to do with being right, AFAIK. My understanding is basically this, http://theadvocates.org/
[quote] Why did the Advocates create the World's Smallest Political Quiz?
Primarily, to replace the flawed, misleading "left-right" or "liberal-conservative" line (see next question) with a better, more accurate, more insightful visual political map. (Other reasons – and other ways the Quiz is used – are discussed in Section 4: PURPOSES AND USES OF THE QUIZ.)
The next few sections will explain what "left-right" or "liberal-conservative" line is, why replacing it is important, and how the Quiz attempts to accomplish that.
What is the "left-right" or "liberal-conservative" line, and what's wrong with it?
Fifteen years ago the standard view of politics – the mental "map" almost everyone used when thinking of political positions – was the old "left-right" line. It is still widely used today.
You've probably seen it in textbooks and newspapers. It looks something like this:
<-------------- left ------------ center ------------- right -------------->
Or, when expanded a bit:
<— crazies – communist/socialist – far left – liberal – centrist – conservative – far right – fascist – crazies —>
This model is misleading and fatally flawed. It doesn't have a place for many millions of people who don't fit neatly into some variant of liberal or conservative. In effect, it disenfranchises the millions of Americans who don't feel that "left," "right," "liberal," "conservative" etc. accurately describe their views. Thomas Jefferson, for example, wouldn't fit comfortably on that chart under any of those labels. Neither would Jesse Ventura or Huey Long or Pat Buchanan. America's real political spectrum is more complex than this simplistic Crossfire model allows.
Nor does the "left-right" line give any useful insight into the differences between the various political categories. It doesn't tell us what the important differences are between liberals, conservatives, fascists, and so on. It tells us nothing of the views of these and other groups.
Furthermore, the left-right model is inherently illogical. The model implies that if you "go too far" (i.e., are consistent) with any political idea, you end up, in some weird and unexplained way, at totalitarianism or anarchism (or maybe both!). Pursue conservative thought to its logical extreme, according to this model, and you somehow end up at fascism (which is national socialism), or white supremacy or some other authoritarian position. If you pursue liberal thought too far, you supposedly end up at socialism or communism. This is inconsistent, and ignores gigantic philosophical differences between, say, liberalism and communism, or conservatism and fascism.
To see another major reason why this model is irredeemably flawed, try to fit libertarians on that line. Libertarians believe that people should be free to live as they choose, in both the economic and personal realms, as long as they don't harm others. So libertarians believe in a free market – which should put them on the "right," right? But they also oppose censorship, the drug war and other attempts by government to control the personal lives of peaceful individuals. Does that put them on the left? Well, no. Does it put them in the "middle"? No. There's just no place for libertarians on that map.
Consider that millions of Americans are libertarian or libertarian-leaning. Libertarians and libertarian thought are a large and important part of American politics, and have been since the country's founding. (See 13: HOW MANY AMERICANS ARE LIBERTARIANS? below for estimates of the number of libertarians in America.) Indeed, libertarian ideas have played a central role in world history for centuries. But the left-right line simply pretends that libertarians don't exist. It does the same for others as well. (Left: Comedian Jimmy J.J. Walker, star of the hit '70's sitcom Good Times, is one of the millions of Americans who call themselves libertarians. He's shown here posing with a poster-size version of the World's Smallest Political Quiz's political "map.")
No wonder, then, that many Americans – used to thinking about politics with this familiar left-right map – couldn't figure out what libertarians were. Libertarians weren't left-wing, they weren't right-wing, they weren't centrists – so they, in effect, didn't exist. Libertarians literally weren't on the map!
The left-right model thus gives a skewed, distorted, inaccurate picture of American politics. It's a "flat earth" political map – inaccurate and misleading.
A new, more accurate, more inclusive political map was desperately needed. That's what led to the creation of the Quiz – as an alternative to this failed, flawed model. [/quote]
That said, a person that considers himself to be fully to the left on the Nolan chart or world's smallest political quiz would likely agree with the vast majority of the Free Keene related civil disobedience, as far as I can tell.
According to that quiz I'm a liberal. I was only two squares from libertarian though.
I never said that I agree with the left-right idea, they are just a useful and well understood terms to use in this country.
I don't like the way that it creates an us vs. them mentality. In fact I'm against political parties all together.
…Oh and I completely back civil disobedience. I'm not saying that I disagree with your actions, I'm just saying that I probably disagree with some of your politics.
Welcome, Eric. I think you'll learn a lot of new ideas and ways to define commonly [mis]used words, here. I did. 
Welcome to the forum, Eric. Hopefully you can find some form of activism that, despite your label right now, lets you get involved in building freedom for yourself and others.
[quote]I don't have any faith in the invisible hand of the free market.[/quote]
I came from the liberal side of things. It's my personal opinion and point of contention that libertarianism has been both "too conservative" and "not radical enough". My personal experience is that the most passionate, principled and active people can hold very libertarian viewpoints and completely reject "libertarianism". One example of being "too conservative" is the constant focus on economics rather than using economics as a means to illustrate a simple point. Perhaps "the invisible hand of the free market" doesn't quite instill confidence for you, but how about "respecting your neighbor's choices"? They're both the same thing, this idea that your neighbor is better suited to make decisions about his money, his body and his life than you are, and that you're better at managing those things for yourself than he is.
In there is the main difference between "anarcho-capitalists" and Voluntaryists. Ancaps believe that there would be this market driven organization that springs up, where people in the search of profit act in accordance to that. Voluntaryists, however, either hold more diverse (or simply care less) views about how people would organize themselves voluntarily. Some people think that, in an absence of authoritarian government, people would form small co-op or commune like communities to organize themselves. Some people think they'd organize companies and business ventures. Voluntaryists hold that these two things might actually be the SAME thing and are okay with that.
Anyway, don't worry overmuch about titles. Knowing what principles you hold dear is more important than knowing what to call yourself.
Welcome. I agree with Kevin that voluntaryism only defines one as supporting only consensual interactions between humans (opposing aggression). These actions can be of different sorts, communistic or capitalistic, or whatever. As long as they are based in consent, the voluntaryist has no qualms.
Welcome to the forum Eric. I think you will find this a diverse crowd rooted in libertarian ideals in which not everyone agrees on every type of activism, which is good - it proves we are individuals. That being said we are certainly open to ideas and we would gladly encourage you to take the lead and set-up your own protests. More colors of activism will create that much more richer image.