Dutch Libertarian idiots

With all my criticism of the Dutch political parties, what of the Dutch Libertarians? I tend to be sympathetic to the libertarian vision of the world, but the embodiment of that vision in the Libertarian Party is highly problematic. The Dutch LP is not, as far as I know, participating in the elections, so why they call themselves a party is a bit beyond me, but we'll leave that aside. I had not visited their web site for a long time, so I clicked on their "latest news" links. The second one takes you to a page that non-Dutch speakers can understand too: the Confederate flag is shown prominently. This is supposed to be a party in favor of freedom? I support people's individual right to put up symbols like the Confederate flag, but by there's a difference between supporting the right to do so and actually doing so. In the latter case you align yourself with the content of the symbol and in this case, it's slavery. The enslavement of millions of people. A party in favor of freedom that without even a word of criticism shows the Confederate flag and what it stands for is just beyond pathetic.

Most of the article is a translation of this article by Walter Block, which argues that the Union's victory in the Civil War is still hampering US foreign policy today. It refers to Abraham Lincoln as a "monster" and claims that amongst the many people who were killed in the Chechnya conflict there might have been someone who could have invented to cure for cancer. But wait, there's more! If you order now, you get an additional truckload of insanity for free! It's a $0 dollar value! The great professor Block has a solution for the conflict in the Middle East:

Jews and Arabs have been slaughtering each other for years in this troubled part of the world. One of these dead, conceivably, might have invented a travel machine or technique that could have allowed us to explore and colonize not only additional planets in this solar system, but in other galaxies as well.

Many Africans died as they were shipped into slavery in the South and in the harsh conditions under which they had to work. Many more would have died if slavery had continued; in the Jim Crow South, many blacks were murdered even after Restoration. One of these dead, conceivably, might have invented a machine or technique that could have allowed us diagnose and treat the mind-bending idiocy of people like Walter Block, whatever planet he's living on.

One simple answer to this firestorm is a geographical and political separation of these two peoples. (This would not entirely solve the crisis; there would still remain the issue of which pieces of land would be controlled by which countries, an issue outside our present focus. But such partition would at least be a step in the right direction).

This is of couse aside from the minor fact that the Arabs have been trying to exterminate the state of Israel and the Jews within it. Arafat was offered just such a secession plan, and reacted instead with more violence to try to expunge Israel. That's just a detail though: the real reason the Clinton mediation failed between Barak and Arafat was because the South was still part of the Union:

However, no American, not even a private citizen, could recommend any such plan with clean hands while the Confederate states are still held by the US Colossus. First we have to set straight our own house, before any of us can recommend separation to other jurisdictions, without fear of the justified charge of hypocrisy.

Quick, somebody tell Trent Lott that he was right after all! Let's allow the South to secede, track down all those blacks who've fled since 1864 and enslave them once more, so that US foreign policy not be hobbled by this any longer!

If the Libertarians ever grow up, I might consider voting for them. Right now they're a cringe-inducing embarrassment at best.