Apparently, Lots of Libertarians Don't Think Women are People Either

[paft.livejournal.com]

So The Mercatus, a right-wing think tank, has declared North Dakota -- which recently passed an incredibly restrictive anti-abortion law, one of the free-est of all the fifty states

Once again, we see that when right wing libertarians use the word "liberty," they're using their own extra-special definition of it. As Salon has pointed out reproductive freedom apparently isn't even entered into the calculations,

Women, you see, just don't count.



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Comments

[policraticus.livejournal.com]

Yes. Exactly right. Libertarians are widely known as opponents of abortion rights. That is them all over.

[paft.livejournal.com]

Many right wing libertarians plainly don't consider outlawing abortion a big deal.

But then, many of them also don't consider segregated lunchrooms, white supremacy, mass murder, etc. a big deal either.

[yes-justice.livejournal.com]

Personal freedom dimension consists of the following categories: Victimless Crime Freedom (9.8%), Gun Control Freedom (6.6%), Tobacco Freedom (4.1%), Alcohol Freedom (2.8%), Marriage Freedom (2.1%), Marijuana and Salvia Freedom (2.1%), Gambling Freedom (2.0%), Education Policy (1.9%), Civil Liberties (0.6%), Travel Freedom (0.5%), Asset Forfeiture Freedom (0.1%), and Campaign Finance Freedom (0.02%).

Gee, no reproductive rights. Booze and weed (and Salvia? really?), but no birth control pills. Go figure.

[yes-justice.livejournal.com]

Oh LOL. They note "Bachelor Party Freedom"! So inclusive!

[chron-job.livejournal.com]

Historically, there has been a split, with most leaning on the side of Reproductive Freedom.

But historicity aside, libertarianism is being co-opted. Instances as the above are telltales.

Of course, The Mercatus being yet another Koch-money supported 'institution', I would not expect their core values to stray far from those most suited to protecting money interests.

[sandwichwarrior.livejournal.com]

and banning things, Libertarians love to ban things.

[fizzyland.livejournal.com]

According to local sources, paternalistic laws are based on biology, not misogyny.

[notmrgarrison.livejournal.com]

And where is it that biology shows that life begins at birth?

[chron-job.livejournal.com]

You might also like reading Slate's criticism...

http://www.slate.com/blogs/moneybox/2013/03/29/mercatus_freedom_map_and_the_fallacies_of_libertarianism.html

"Some of the problem here arise from arbitrary weighting of different categories in order to simultaneously preserve libertarianism as a distinct brand and also preserve libertarianism's strong alliance with social conservatism. Consequently, a gay man's freedom to marry the love of his life is given some weight in the rankings but less than his right to purchase a gun with minimal hassle."

[american-geist.livejournal.com]

Great analysis. Thanks for posting.

[underlankers.livejournal.com]

Did they declare it free because of abortion or because of what passes for economic policy in one of the ass ends of North America?

[underlankers.livejournal.com]

No, wait, here we go:

A big part of North Dakota’s high ranking on regulatory policy is due to the state’s excellent liability system. North Dakota also scores well on land-use freedoms, with better-than-average residential land-use regulations and significant eminent domain reform. North Dakota possesses a strange workers’ compensation funding policy: all private and self-insurance is banned, and employers are required to contribute to a state fund. However, it is a right-to-work state. Occupational licensing is excessive but the fees and education/experience requirements are relatively low. Nurse practitioners and physician assistants have greater scope of practice than they do in many other states. Health insurance coverage mandates are a bit worse than average, but the state only has rate bands. Cable regulation has not been reformed.

And here's where it's ranked badly on the list:

North Dakota scores well in a few personal freedom areas but has much room for improvement. Gun control laws are fairly relaxed. Alcohol regulations are light, while tax rates on beer and wine are average and spirits taxes are fairly low. Cigarette taxes are low but smoking bans exist, with exemptions for bars and restaurants. Motorists also operate with relative freedom, except for sobriety checkpoints and (most notably) the personal injury coverage mandate. On the downside, marijuana laws are poor. The state’s asset forfeiture rules score a standard deviation worse than the mean. In particular, the state should change who has the burden of proof and what is the standard of proof required for forfeiture. Unfortunately, North Dakota has a very high level of non-drug victimless crimes arrests. However, its drug enforcement rate is actually ranked below average and its overall incarceration rate approaches a standard deviation better than the mean. North Dakota has some of the worst school regulations in the country. Private schools are heavily regulated, with state approval, teacher licensing, and detailed curriculum oversight required. Homeschoolers are similarly tightly regulated.

[badlydrawnjeff.livejournal.com]

From their 2011 report (http://mercatus.org/sites/all/modules/custom/mercatus_50_states/files/Freedom50States2011.pdf):

Our definition of freedom presents specific challenges
on some high-profile issues. Abortion is a critical
example. By one account, the fetus is a rights-bearing
person, and abortion is therefore an aggressive violation of individual rights that ought to be punished by
government. By another account, the fetus does not
have rights, and abortion is a permissible exercise
of an individual liberty, in which case government
regulation of abortion would be an unjust violation
of a woman’s rights. Rather than take a stand on one
side or the other (or anywhere in between), we have
coded the data on state abortion restrictions but have
not included the policy in our overall index.
Another example is the death penalty. Some would
argue that a murderer forfeits her right to life, and,
therefore, state execution of a murderer does not
violate a basic right to life. Others contend that the
right to life can never be forfeited, or that the state
should never risk taking away all the rights of innocent individuals by mistakenly executing them. State
sentencing policies short of the death penalty could
also be debated. We do not include the death penalty
or incarceration rates in the freedom index, although
we have coded the data and made them available
online at http://www.statepolicyindex.com.

I don't love the choice, but at least they're up front about it.

[paft.livejournal.com]

All you've posted here is a long rationalization for them not including women's reproductive rights.

[fizzyland.livejournal.com]

By one account, the fetus is a rights-bearing person,

Only according to cultural conservatives who have as of yet failed to make a compelling argument as to why this should be so. There is no fetal personhood anywhere in western civilization.

[chron-job.livejournal.com]

Such a conflict of competing interests is present in every.... single.... action that can effect anyone. The right to perform an act, versus the right to be free of the effects of such acts dichotomy touches everything in such an interconnected society. This is demonstrably true of many of the other freedoms they 'calculated', as for instance gun control freedom.

The only thing special about reproductive freedom is it touches on an area of conflict between Libertarians and Social Conservatives. Neglecting to discus it is a PR decision.

[kylinrouge.livejournal.com]

I would say their other numbers are far more hilarious than the lack of abortion calculations. By their logic all of Europe is less free than any state in the USA.

[sandwichwarrior.livejournal.com]

Have you been to Europe?

Stahp!

[rick-day.livejournal.com]

I'm going to take another approach. And I am going to finally call you out on this.

This post was written, toned and designed to continue polarization (throwing paper rocks at all Libertarians). You do it all the time. Stop it, please. It's almost trollish how you present such absolutism positions.

Guess what, P? Liberty comes in all shapes, sizes and opinions. Your beef is interpreted by me as being butthurt over not having women and their special needs on a pedestal in your source. "If you don't pay attention to my position, then you [insert incredibly broad condemning statement]".

Liberty comes in all genders. But ultimately, only one race benefits from liberty.

Both sides are guilty of this, especially the conservatives and their darted non sequiturs. It's like who can keep the top spinning the longest with their unique and button punching point of view. And this post is right down there with them in the muck.

Stop making abortion about 'teh gurlz' and start making it about general (as opposed to gender) human rights, and maybe JUST maybe, we can all start to settle down.

Where is Ozymandias or a big hunk of world-unifying space rock when we need one?

my opinion.

[american-geist.livejournal.com]

WON'T SOMEONE THINK OF THE LIBERTARIANS??

[fizzyland.livejournal.com]

Today I'm reading random news stories and I came across this one: British woman faces time in an Arab jail. The crime? Having lunch with a married man

And the first comment to the article was: Stupid North Dakota.

What I take away from this is that Libertarians and other right wingers can tell themselves that they are all about liberty but that's not how everyone else views them.

[yes-justice.livejournal.com]

Some folks are even spacier than me, what does ND have to....?

[rimpala.livejournal.com]

North Dakota needs to focus less on this and more on housing for it's oil boom

[luvdovz.livejournal.com]

Good to know that you've now opted for 4-line-long "So they hate women" sort of posts. That it has been deemed OK as per rule 8 is what I find interesting.

[paft.livejournal.com]

Feel free to complain to teacher about it.

[brother-dour.livejournal.com]

By 'free-est' they mean 'if you are an Anglo, heterosexual Christian male' of course.

[comeonyouspurs.livejournal.com]

& rich.

[404.livejournal.com]

This is a pretty weak-sauce OP to get 530+ replies, but you should be proud. It's been awhile since this has happened.

[ddstory.livejournal.com]

Coming (http://talk-politics.livejournal.com/733875.html) from (http://talk-politics.livejournal.com/919934.html) you (http://talk-politics.livejournal.com/599911.html), this (http://talk-politics.livejournal.com/589944.html) sure is (http://talk-politics.livejournal.com/551292.html) particularly (http://talk-politics.livejournal.com/462876.html) ironic (http://talk-politics.livejournal.com/337552.html).

[404.livejournal.com]

This is a pretty weak-sauce OP to get 530+ replies, but you should be proud. It's been awhile since this has happened.

[ddstory.livejournal.com]

Yeah, we got that the first time you said it.

[sophia-sadek.livejournal.com]

Coming soon: a special award for freedom in Somalia.