Q: Do you advocate fascism (like your friend does)?
A: "That's not a realistic political program".
We're kind of looking for a straight "No" here from our politically involved Billionaires.
Doubly so if they've just claimed "America isn't a democracy".
Triply so if we think any of their Libertarian stylings are seriously what they believe.
Libertarianism is something you can respond to with "that's not a realistic political program". For actual fascism a "No, that's entirely incompatible with every Libertarian principle I've ever publicly espoused" would be more comforting.
> We're kind of looking for a straight "No" here from our politically involved Billionaires.
It’s a bad faith question that’s not worth asking, except as a setup for bad faith innuendo-mongering. Which is why one of the longest Theil quotes in the article is Theil describing some nobody’s theory of light fascism—-the only purpose it serves is a setup for a smear. There is nothing that Theil has ever said that would indicate that his politics are in line with FDR’s. Theil’s answer reflects that.
> Doubly so if they've just claimed "America isn't a democracy".
Yikes. He is observing an objective fact. America is and always has been constitutional republic, which is distinct from a democracy. Isn’t it amazing how Theil’s statement of a fact can be dressed up with innuendo and presented as though it was evidence of something sinister?
> Triply so if we think any of their Libertarian stylings are seriously what they believe.
I’m not sure what you mean.
> For actual fascism a "No, that's entirely incompatible with every Libertarian principle I've ever publicly espoused" would be more comforting.
As your comments have illuminated, there is no good-faith reason to be concerned about Theil being a fascist, so why would he feel the need to breathlessly disavow it? He says it’s bad policy. He’s right. Pretending that there is anything to be learned from the manner of his reply—-especially that it amounts to a revelation that all of his espoused beliefs are a lie—-is deceitful and unserious.
> He is observing an objective fact. America is and always has been constitutional republic, which is distinct from a democracy.
A constitutional republic is a small d democratic system. The political power in that system comes from the will of the people. We can play word games all day but the United States is a representative democracy.
That people like you parrot these ideas is deeply concerning, and the idea that the United States is not a democracy is often bandied about as a reason to act in bad faith against the will of the people. Most recently, the electorate in Ohio voted to enshrine the right to abortion in the state constitution. One of the arguments people were making against that vote was that the United States is not a democracy. I've only ever seen people make this argument in bad faith as reasoning for sticking with unpopular policies like abortion bans.
Q: Do you advocate fascism (like your friend does)?
A: "That's not a realistic political program".
We're kind of looking for a straight "No" here from our politically involved Billionaires.
Doubly so if they've just claimed "America isn't a democracy".
Triply so if we think any of their Libertarian stylings are seriously what they believe.
Libertarianism is something you can respond to with "that's not a realistic political program". For actual fascism a "No, that's entirely incompatible with every Libertarian principle I've ever publicly espoused" would be more comforting.