Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2017/11/09/kentuckyrand-paulchrist-what.html
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I guess it’s a small price to pay for that Libertarian Paradise…
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I made a guess to some friends when this story first came out that there was a leaf blower involved… it turns out I was fairly close to the truth of the matter.
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Sounds terribly plausible to me.
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I’d like to say I’m sorry that this happened to Rand Paul, that he does not deserve this type of thing. I’d like to say that. I really would. I’d best just stop here.
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As it’s been explained to me, one of the core tenets of libertarianism is that society will be regulated by contracts, freely entered-into by free individuals.
I’m not entirely surprised that someone seen as an epitome of Libertarianism should turn out to be unwilling to abide by the terms of such a contract (the HOA agreement).
This incident does, however, resolve the question of how such contracts will be enforced. My libertarian friends always told me that questions of non-compliance would be resolved in court (part of my skepticism where libertarianism is concerned stems from the fact that “and the lawyers shall set you free” doesn’t strike me as the most persuasive possible slogan). Thanks to this incident, however, we know that disputes will be resolved by clotheslining people off their lawn tractors. Works for me, I guess.
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The underlying premise of Libertarianism (Objectivism, Rand-ism, whatever) and Communism is that humans will at all times (or even most times) behave rationally, which is demonstrably false. It is why they don’t work.
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Libertarianism: blowing off my problems and letting others deal with it.
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The fact that Paul worships at the altar of Ayn Rand should be a clue - for him, libertarianism is not a principled objection to government overreach, it’s about objecting to all forms of government that costs him money or interferes with what he wants to do. It’s libertarianism for sociopaths.
Sadly there are far more Randite libertarians in US politics than any other flavour, and they have successfully poisoned the well so that when I hear someone label themselves as a libertarian, I conclude that absent evidence to the contrary, they are a whiny privileged sociopath who should not be allowed access to any degree of power.
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Libertarianism requires ignoring externalities that affect other people; as soon as one acknowledges those externalities (pollution, disease… lawn trimmings) might affect other people and that it’s your responsibility, the entire house of special-pleading cards comes collapsing down into the core of “I want to benefit from a structured society but not contribute to that society or participate in it” that is the central aspect of Libertarianism’s appeal.
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Except possibly Rojava.
Maybe the answer isn’t libertarianism or communism, it’s libertarian communism.
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Okay, maybe I’m missing the big picture, but why does the property developer know about the residents’ private lives? And why does he comment on them to the press?
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Well HOAs are usually run by pettyfogging idiots and they combine the worst features of rampant capitalism and intrusive regulation. So it doesn’t surprise me that RP would have a problem with them. But the solution is DON"T BUY A HOUSE WITH A HOA. I’m hardly some sort of extreme libertarian, but that was one of the unalterable conditions that I gave to my real estate agent when I was looking for a house. I just don’t see the point of buying a house and STILL having some asshole telling me what color my front door and curtains can be. He is wealthy enough that his only choices are not limited to condos or townhouses. So the surprise is that he purchased a house in a development with a HOA in the first place.
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We have stupid property lines that run through continuous sheets of lawn in our neighborhood. Yes, sometimes my neighbor blows his leaves onto my lawn. Not overtly, like in a big pile, but accidentally in spots, and sometimes it’s a lot of leaves. He don’t care. Nor do I. Sometimes when I’m blowing em they go over onto his side. I take a swipe at his driveway with my blower and try to push the obvious leaves and debris back onto the lawn or the road, common courtesy. We are all just trying to keep things reasonably neat. Perfection is not the goal.
The other thing is that some leaves are good, this time of year. Run over them with the lawnmower and crunch em up for free mulch. Not a leaf pile’s worth. But if there are some leaves and twigs and you can still see the grass in between them, that’s a mulch opportunity. When it’s that amount of leaves, just mow em, because the bits are good for the grass over winter. If there are too many, obviously, you have to pick most of them up because the lawnmower can’t handle crunching that many. And the lawn would get covered too deeply in mulch.
All I’m saying is even if your neighbor is a dick and blows his leaves onto your lawn, you have two immediate options, and a few less obvious ones: 1. Blow em back. 2. mow over em and use the mulch
And the less obvious:
- don’t sweat it, just carry on.
- get some hired help and they can cart away all the leaves, leaving your lawn and yard looking like a golf course.
- give the kids some rakes and tell them to have fun making a big pile that everyone can jump in
- tackle your asshole neighbor and make sure to knock the wind out of him and crack a few ribs. He deserves it for being such an asshat about all these goddamn leaves and goddamn kids stay off my lawn motherfucker or I’ll call the HOA on your ass.
Or you can just skip right to #6. Or even #7 initiate a mass shooting because you are mentally unstable and the leaves are what sent you over the edge.
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So you’re telling me that Rand Paul is a selfish, inconsiderate asshole?! I’m shocked, SHOCKED!
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Skaggs said Paul has been difficult to work with.
Then stop voting TGOP, for fu!ks sake.
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This is perfect.
A Libertarian living in a gated community is just asking for trouble. “Society has too many rules . . . so I’m going to live in a private community that has it’s own rules which I also don’t want to follow.”
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I knew it! There was a leafblower involved in this incident.
“Paul is said to have had a history of blowing his lawn trimmings onto his neighbors’ property.”
As typical of a Libertarian, Paul brazenly acted as if his rights extended to a privilege to attack others.
[These are the same people who oppose anti-discrimination legislation as preventing the right to institute segregation and oppose environmental regulation as preventing the right of companies to poison everyone around their operations]
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Unless one forgets the most important rule of life. People, especially politicians are hypocrites.
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With you 100% on this.
Also: Rand Paul was not named for Ayn Rand. But hey it sounds good, so let’s just say it.
