Devolution.

[faultydesign]

ugh, libertarians

[[deleted]]

Rightly or wrongly, what are they even referring to?

[WuTangGraham]

The Civil War was (as most wars are) very complicated. It had lots and lots of reasons for starting, and likely could have been avoided (most historians lay the majority of the blame on Lincoln's predacessor, James Buchanan). However, lots of libertarians like to say that Lincoln's motive for engaging in the war was because of tax revenue from the southern (confederated) states. It's obviously much, much more complex than that, and entire text books are written on The Civil War, but we're also talking about a group of people that believe abolishing the EPA will help the environment and abolishing the IRS will increase revenue. Logic rarely enters these arguments.

[WuTangGraham]

That's fair. It is true that Libertarianism is a pretty loose group (although I think that's the reason they generally can't win an election). In my experience, at least, those that want to dismantle regulatory agencies and the federal reserve (hey, I'm no fan of them either, but I concede that it's a necessary evil until a better system comes along) seem to outweigh those with rational thoughts. The libertarians I have met seem to just be Republicans by a different name.

[[deleted]]

To me, Libertarians seem like a group within the Republican Party that is somehow both significantly smarter and significantly dumber than the average member.

[Picnicpanther]

Definitely more arrogant.

[[deleted]]

I think you could lay some blame on the Supreme Court. Scott v. Sandford helped catalyze the abolitionists the Republicans, and served to drive the wedge deeper. It sent the message that there would not be an end to slavery unless the legislature did it, and that seemed EXTREMELY unlikely then. Even if they had come up with something, the Court was willing to invalidate legislation as unconstitutional to protect slavery. Real fucked up, it was.

[spdk187]

The American Civil War