Brent DeRidder’s opinion is the opinion of all members of the libertarian party of North Carolina, and the opinion of all Libertarians in the US? I wouldn’t have thought that libertarians would relinquish their freedom of opinion so completely to one man.

His main argument suggests that abortions will happen irrespective of legal restrictions, advocating instead for imposing religious beliefs through avenues other than legislation.

If I think a state ought to determine its own laws that does not mean I think it ought to prohibit anything it wants. — NOS4A2

We weren’t talking about anything were we? We were talking about abortion.

Anyway, I hope you work out the contradiction some day.

Technically a lie, my bad, though a more generous interpretation would be that I was paraphrasing.

The contradiction remains unresolved. To repeat myself:

If you think abortion is a woman’s choice then the state ought not restrict that choice on any level and no matter how easy or difficult. — praxis

No, conservative libertarians don’t think that women should have the liberty to choose.

That’s not helpful. Assuming that you want to clarify where I allegedly lied, can you explain what you mean when you say, “The act is no one’s decision but the woman’s.”?

This appears to mean that you think the state should not to have the power to restrict a woman’s choice.

A favorite pastime especially today in politics (witness the backbitting back and forth between Democrats and Repulbicans) is this infantile labelling of the opponent. We never learn, seems to be an inherent thing in the human mind. — Ray Liikanen

Aren’t you negating everything else these infantile labelers might be?

That’s a lie and misrepresentation of my view. — NOS4A2

I honestly have no idea what the lie is supposed to be.

our resident Trumper and Ayn Rand devotee — Mikie

Ayn Rand made strong arguments for choice. Whadaya bet she would have argued differently has she been a he.

The act is no one’s decision but the woman’s. — NOS4A2

You say abortion is no one’s decision but the woman’s, and then go on to say that the state ought to have more right to determine women’s choice because it’s easier to restrict or liberate at the local level. This is contradictory. If you think abortion is a woman’s choice then the state ought not restrict that choice on any level and no matter how easy or difficult.

Trump is attempting to side-step the problem by leaving it up to the state. This makes it a matter of choice. It is a form of pernicious relativism - arbitrarily permissible if and when the individual state says it is. No true "pro-life" advocate should find this acceptable. — Fooloso4

Exactly. Trump is currently saying he’d be “great for women and their reproductive rights.” If he doesn’t lose the support of pro-life advocates it just further demonstrates that the issue is little more than politicization.

I did read your whole post.

Okay, assuming that you’re actually serious, you seem to believe that being religious means thinking, believing, and concluding whatever is in accordance with your religion.

That is certainly part of it (though not to the extreme you claim) and why religion tends to be very dogmatic. You must think there’s more to it though, right?

to be not religious means that you cannot think, that you do not believe in anything, and that you cannot reach any conclusions of any kind. — Ray Liikanen

Are you serious about this?

Every human being who walked the earth began that way. They are not like cysts. Abortion, infanticide, homicide…they all involve the same act: causing the death, or killing, of a human being. — NOS4A2

If that’s what you believe then shouldn’t you want a national ban? As it is, the abortion rate hasn’t decreased by much, if at all. Most abortions are performed with drugs, and as you pointed out earlier, women can travel to states where it’s legal. It seems that the most vulnerable women, those with the least resources, in red states are hardest hit.

The architects and propagandists of the Bush regime join your campaign. — NOS4A2

The MAGA term is RINO. Anyway, who’s more neocon than Nikki Haley, whose wealth seems to be tied to defense contractors. No “Republican” is rejecting her endorsement of Trump. In fact, many Republicans wanted to elect her president in this race.

Former Trump administration staffers also support Harris in this election. Not a great look.

Several spoke at the DNC, including Stephanie Grisham. She reported that Trump said his diehard supporters, people like you, were basement dwellers. How does that make you feel?

Nikki Haley Says Donald Trump “Has My Strong Endorsement, Period” In Republican National Convention Speech

If you’re right then there is an opportunity for you or some other abortionist to run on such a platform. — NOS4A2

Yup, the people always have to fight for their liberty.

Now women can vote for the policies they want. — NOS4A2

Is that true? According to polls in Texas, most favor some access to abortion, and as far as I can tell it hasn’t been on a ballot.

I don’t think the feds should have any say in the matter. — NOS4A2

You think that states should have the power to deny women their freedom to choose, right? If so, doesn't that make you a stinking statists?

As for abortion, now people can vote for the laws they want. I know people having more power is anathema to the authoritarian, but you’ll get used to it. — NOS4A2

The women in many states don’t have the power to choose now. Aren’t you supposed to be some breed of libertarian?

In 2009, some residents of Royal Tunbridge Wells called the tag "inappropriate" and "stereotypical" and asked the town to drop association with it in favour of Delighted of Tunbridge Wells. However, there was opposition to this campaign by other residents, some of whom wrote to newspapers in the "Disgusted of Tunbridge Wells" style arguing they preferred Disgusted of Tunbridge Wells. Local merchants at the town's information centre pointed out that tourists were buying twice as many goods bearing Disgusted of Tunbridge Wells than with Delighted of Tunbridge Wells. — Wikipedia

Tunbridge Wells knows the value of brand equity. :lol:

Apple series of Lady in the Lake. :up: :up:

I like some of them, others not so much, like this one…



Even an AI can produce a more interesting cover image.

He’s dedicated to truth, democracy, and saving Americans from being poisoned by big agriculture/pharmaceuticals… so he endorses Trump. :chin:

Just another slimy politician doing what’s best for himself.

I have costal real estate to sell to anyone who gets teary-eyed over these speeches. — Mikie

How much?

In other news, “One of the biggest revisions by the Bureau of Labor Statistics showed that the United States added 818,000 fewer jobs between April 2023 and March 2024.” — NOS4A2

If Trump can be believed this is good news because he reported that those jobs were filled by illegal immigrants. Good news or part of a blizzard of lies and deceit?

… the same be said of politics, philosophy, sports, etc etc etc. — ENOAH

Exactly.

Religious kinship is magnitudes deeper because it assumes shared core values.

is kinship not an ego less drive? I get that quickly egos rush in; buy at its "essence."

I’m afraid that kinship is inherently tribal in nature, and that’s why religions are so tribal in nature.

I can’t agree because, if I’ve been following your reason rightly, your duality (real land/phony water) expresses a fetish. Wouldn’t you feel kinship with anyone who shared your fetish? It need not be a community.

I am flowing on a synthetic river, seeing the real land on both sides of me. I am not saying I can get off the river. I just think it is functional knowing that. — ENOAH

It’s functional in its binding effect with those who also believe as you do, believe in the duality of real lands and phony rivers. You feel kinship with those who see the world as you do, don’t you?

It’s not my term, it’s Constance’s term. As I’ve said from the beginning, I think the essence of religion is binding. If you look at the etymology, it’s in the very name: Latin religare ‘to bind’.

Anyway, to be clear, you admit that your adulation of egolessness is like a fetish?

note that we cannot escape sex as a fetish while being human; just as we cannot escape the ego. — ENOAH

You seem to be suggesting that humans are inherently corrupt or inescapably fetishizing everything. I can agree with this because it means that the essence of religion is fetishism.

It appears you linger at the "institutional" notion of religion. — ENOAH

To used Constance’s simile, you’re saying that it’s like I linger at the fetish notion of sex. The thing is that anything can be fetishized and sex doesn’t necessarily lead to fetishes. Sex can be fully realized without fetishes, indeed more fully realized I might argue.

It’s as though you and Constance insist that sex is a fetish. It is not.

Religion's answer: know that your ego is nothing. — ENOAH

Religions have all sorts of answers to all sorts of questions. It is rather presumptuous of you to try speaking for all religions.

Out of this ever evolving mechanism came countless manifestations--your institutions and ideologies. — ENOAH

Out of religion came countless religions??? That doesn’t make any sense.

It appears that way in religion's manifestation as institutions, I agree. — ENOAH

A religion is an institution or ideology.

religion as a reduced phenomenon is the confrontation we have with a world that is utterly transcendental, and its value-in-the-world puts to inquiry an extraordinary question. — Constance

The question a religion poses is whether you have faith in its *ultimate* authority.

We’re not communicating for some reason.

What are you talking about? :brow: Steve Schmidt is a thirty-year Republican and a political and corporate strategist. He is best known for working on Republican political campaigns, including those of President George W. Bush, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, and Arizona Senator John McCain during his 2008 presidential campaign.

Have you been reading this and the Trump thread? Not only are mainly democrats partial to this thinking, its a pick-and-choose situation. — AmadeusD

Show instances of this in this or the Trump thread.

Religion is the foundational indeterminacy of our existence, and in this, ethics is underscored. — Constance

Rather, religion is the foundational determinacy of our existence, and in this, ethics is prescribed.

It’s not about policy at all, is it? — NOS4A2