Comment Re:Libertarian nirvana (Score 1) 534
It's ironic for you to cite Martin Niemöller in this context. Niemöller was initially a supporter of the Nazi regime, anti-Semitic, anti-liberal, and anti-democratic. His statement is truthful: he only started opposing the Nazis when they started making his life difficult, and he really only broke with Nazi ideology after having been imprisoned for years. But his apology and subsequent pacifism themselves were opportunism, and he just moved on from supporting one form of totalitarianism to another one.
In fact, it's libertarians (classical liberals) that are warning you of the dangers of what's happening in Massachusetts and the rise of paramilitary-style police, and obviously getting quite a bit of abuse for it from the political establishment.
That was kind of my point, like the OP I was referring to the subset of present-day libertarians that advocate laissez-faire capitalism and who advocate this kind of crap. I cited Niemöller quite deliberately precisely because he cheered along with the Nazis until they got around to targeting him. His lesson was not to make his mistake, get off the band wagon, pour the Kool Aid down the gutter and slash the tyres on the band wagon and choke developments like this at birth. Laissez-faire capitalists will cheer along as these privatised forces morph into corporate armies until they them selves are being targeted.