[quote=DomoArigato]I’m still waiting for one of the Libertarians here to answer the question that I raised from my post above: How would deregulation address environmental pollution by corporations or prevent it from happening all over the U.S.?[/quote]
I’m “kind of” a libertarian but some things about the libertarian party aren’t to my liking but I’ll try to answer
First, I suggest avoiding making strawman arguemnt of ‘Libertarians typically say “take ’em to court’ ” whereby you tell someone what the their argument is so you can easily argue against it.
The answer to the question is that “deregulation” does not mean “no regulation”
Generally speaking, Libertarians beleive that regulations should be limited, for the most part, to violent crimes, property rights infringement and breach of contract.
I would put pollution under a property rights infringement. No reason a libertarian wouldn’t accept laws against this.
Libertarians have done a crappy job of marketing themselves, IMHO. Most people think a “free market” means a market where anyone can do whatever the hell they want and that “deregulation” means that nobody is restricted from doing anything.
A “free market” is one where all participants are free from having anyone else infringe on your property rights and I prefer “appropriate regulation” to “deregulation” whereby transactions between parties are regulated (to ensure property rights are upheld and contracts are not breached) but results are not regulated at all.
Most people need to adjust their thinking regarding what a libertarian is and is not.
Somehow, they have a reputation for supporting large corporations, which is also not accurate. In fact, the Libertarians I know object strongly to the whole concept of a limited liability corporation (I believe this is one of the OWS demands), which makes individuals less accountable.
