An unsolicited Libertarian e-mail that was forwarded to me

[Cirque du So-What]

Libertarians release top 10 disasters of 2009 Obama administration
Note similarities to previous administration

Top 10 disasters of the 2009 Obama administration (in no particular order):

1. Cash for Clunkers
2. War escalation in Afghanistan
3. Giant government health care expansion bill
4. Post office loses money hand over fist
5. Stimulus package
6. Expansion of "state secrets" doctrine
7. Big increase in unemployment
8. "Bailout" Geithner as Treasury Secretary
9. Skyrocketing federal spending
10. Huge federal deficits

Top 10 disasters of the 2001-2008 Bush administration:

1. Cash for Car Companies
2. War in Iraq
3. Giant Medicare expansion bill
4. Post office loses money hand over fist
5. Stimulus "rebate" checks
6. PATRIOT Act
7. Big increase in unemployment
8. "Bailout" Paulson as Treasury Secretary
9. Skyrocketing federal spending
10. Huge federal deficits

Wes Benedict, Libertarian Party Executive Director, commented, "Republicans and Democrats keep expanding government and creating more and more problems. We're encouraging as many Libertarians as possible to run for Congress in 2010. In Texas, the state with the earliest filing deadline, Libertarians have already filed for 31 of 32 Congressional seats."

It's important to stay ahead of false equivalencies like these, so consider this a brainstorming session.

[Confusious]

1. Great, the loonitarians are getting ready to cross the road

Of course, it's unpaved, has no sidewalk, has no traffic signals, and accidents happen on a daily basis.

[timeforpeace]

2. If ever given a chance to govern, they would find it as hard to do as Dems and pukes do.

[MineralMan]

4. Even harder, since they don't believe in government at all.

Can you imagine a Washington, DC populated by legislators who were former LINUX consultants.

UBUNTU FOREVER!

[wyldwolf]

3. without addressing each of these 20 points, I must say...

Libertarians are the scientologists of the political world.

[LeftishBrit]

5. The thing about right-libertarianism...

is that it treats ALL government as a bad thing, and therefore creates a false equivalence between governments of a very different nature.

(I always say '*right*-libertarianism, to counter the meme that they'd like to spread, that there is a necessary relationship between social libertarianism and laissez-faire economics.)

Increase in federal spending, increased unemployment and war escalation in Afghanistan under Obama all reflect continuation/attempts to deal with consequences of Bush's policies. Perhaps he could have moved further from Bush on some issues, especially the wars, but to a large extent he has been in the position of the traveller in a remote area who asked a local how to get to the nearest town and received the answer, "You shouldn't start from here!" (As has Gordon Brown after Blair, but that would be be another post.)

[louis-t]

6. Uh, Cash for Clunkers was a resounding success.

Thousands of people are back to work now, thousands more fuel-efficient cars are on the road, not to mention the sales tax on all those cars helped states such as mine.

[Brother Buzz]

8. Not if you were a used car salesman or...

a lower income individual who depends upon the ability to purchase good used cars for transportation. This is one market where trickle down economics actually works.

[BR_Parkway]

7. Post office defict makes Bush's worst list ahead of failure to stop 9/11?

Wow, they've got interesting priorities to say the least