Why Are So Many Nerds Libertarians?

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a liberal isn't that different than a conservative. Liberals have "political correctness" (inverted bigotry) and conservatives have their theocracy BS.

NeantHumain, have you read Liberty magazine? It's a libertarian rag that is just that. It discusses politics without being partisan, obviously neither the Democrats or Republicans represent libertarian ideals. It doesn't support Corporate Welfare for many reasons. It also derides the anti-intellectualism that is rampant in this country, even among our elites in charge.

NeantHumain i agree with you. Freedom is good. But freedom is not the same for everyone. Some may have disabilities that hinders them from getting job with salary that allows them to support themselves on their own. The each on their own ideology won't work in any world unless its place called Rapture (Bioshock)

I would be very authortarian if I were in charge. Until then, I'm rather libertarian.

I don't even know what one would describe me as, but I do know one thing: I'm anti-Libertarian.

I would think some aspies might lean towards socialism. When I was a naive little kid I asked my teacher why people with easy white-collar jobs could make more money than people who do hard manual labour. It didn’t seem fair to me. Of course rather than explaining how economics and capitalism work she just responded that “life isn’t always fair”. My understanding was that you should get paid based on the amount of effort you put in.

That’s how I see socialism, as an attempt to make things more fair. I see economic/social justice as a form of liberty so I’m very against laissez-faire capitalism. I’m not a socialist in the old fashioned sense of the word though. I’m against government trying to shoehorn socialism into society. However I wouldn’t be against a bottom-up form of socialism if there was a way to make it work.

In practical terms my philosophy is to maximize personal liberty as much as possible. For social issues it’s pretty much a no-brainer. For economic issues I have to take a more nuanced approach.

You know, my experience is that geeks are mostly socialists, which I suspect means there is more to do with social upbringing than any inherent bias. It may be the case that people tend towards idealistic extremes rather than the practical measures if they're geeks, because within a geek "ecosystem," such utopian ideals would be more likely to work, be they pure libertarianism or communism, but in the real world, with real people, they Just Don't Work(TM).

There is no reason why Libertarianism or laissez faire capitalism is imcompatible with charity. Socialism requires the government to confiscate wealth from one to another with the backing of force. And too often, the problem is not one of a lack of charity, but a reluctance on the part of the person receiving that charity to consider charity as a priviledge. The desire is for the unearned. But everything has a price...

Actually a great deal of Aspies are considered ultra consevative like in my case. Try not to link being liberal or conservative with a party (democrat or republican). I use to be a republican until what has happened in the past few years. So now I consider myself a Libertarian.

btw..I was joking when I said Librarian instead of Libertarian.

I tend to lean towards Socialism