An article in salon.com (Jeremy Sherman, AlterNet) dated, Monday, Feb 27, 2017 05:00 AM PST.
I have made many of the same 'observations' as what have been mentioned in the article.
I have copied some of the article to this post (sort of 'cherry-picked; but is in order from top to bottom and spaced apart so as not to misquote, rewrite, or or alter the 'meanings' of the article).
“I once had a conversation with a Libertarian friend who insisted that freedom was the answer to everything — ironic since he was getting married the following week.
“Freedom to have sex with others while married?” I asked. “Of course not,” he said.
“Freedom for your children to do whatever they want?” “No, that’s different,” he said.
“Freedom for everyone to have a nuclear bomb?” “No, that wouldn’t be good.”
“Freedom for people to steal?” “No, that has to be controlled.”
“You don’t really think that freedom is the answer to everything,” I said. “The real question is what to constrain and what to let go free. The question in social engineering is the question in all engineering. It’s a question of tolerances: What to constrain with tight tolerances and what to let run free with loose tolerances. That question is built right into the paradoxical declarations that we should all, “be intolerant of all intolerance,” or “tolerate all intolerance.”
“Sorry, that’s not my question,” he said.
“But why?” I asked. “Because it’s hard and I don’t want to bother with it.””...
… “It’s so much easier to be a hypocrite, to claim that total freedom or total constraint are the only possibilities and that you favor one and oppose the other.”...
… “Pretend that there’s no question, control is always bad, freedom is always good. Or vice versa.”...
… “These days, libertarianism is one such cult, growing in popularity, in large part through sponsorship by the Koch brothers network of donors, spending billions through private charities to achieve a cabal of about 400 billionaires’ ultimate aim, to be unconstrained in everything they do. The cabal was inspired by a self-serving misreading of the Soviet Union. Fred Koch, the Koch brother’s father was a key provider to Stalin as he built the Soviet Union’s oil industry. When Fred saw the devastation wrought by his client Stalin he wrote that, “What I saw in Russia convinced me of the utterly evil nature of communism. . . . What I saw there convinced me that communism was the most evil force the world has ever seen and I must do everything in my power to fight it, which I have done since that time.”
Rather than bite Stalin’s hand that fed him he conveniently focused on the rationalization that Stalin employed to justify his dictatorship. Fred went on to say in 1938 that “Although nobody agrees with me, I am of the opinion that the only sound countries in the world are Germany, Italy, and Japan, simply because they are all working and working hard.” He loved fascism; he hated communism.”...
… “Freedom and responsibility:
You’re free on the dance floor, but unless you’re special (P.S., you’re not) your freedom comes with responsibility for not constraining other people’s freedom. You don’t get to crowd everyone into the corner by dancing wildly with your eyes shut shouting “I believe in freedom!”
Social movements: The best and worst movements in human history have all had the same rallying cry, a proud “We demand more!” That’s the cry of those crowded out but also those who already have more than their fair share. It’s the cry of the women’s and civil rights movement but also of the Nazis. So what’s the difference between the good and bad versions of that rallying cry? Hypocrisy, demand for more dance floor when you’re already taking up plenty of it."...
..."Free will vs. determinism: We claim that free will as better than determinism but actually we’re ambivalent. What we’d really like is the freedom to advance and the determinism that locks in the advances we’ve already made. What we really want is a ratchet, freedom to climb, constraint against falling.
We can have that ratchet if we shut our eyes, dance impulsively and shout “freedom is the only answer!” while crowding everyone else into the corners by meaning only our personal freedom, the hell with theirs."
The complete article is here.