LebGeeks

mmajzoub

Member

Hello - Any Libertarians around?

Hello everyone, let me first introduce myself. I'm Mohamad Majzoub - a Software Engineer - I work in a local ISP in Beirut. I'm an AUB grad (CCE class of 2005). I would've wanted to join this forum at the prime time of my technology involvement, but I guess it's better late than never.

Something a bit off computer geeky topics and which I'm a bit interested right now to see is if there are any Lebanese who consider themselves as Libertarians or at least subscribe (in a way or another) to the economic libertarian school of thought. I've been following this community for the past 5 and a half years, and I was able to get to know only one Lebanese person who's pro this mindset. So, I was wondering if you seem to know someone (maybe a professor) who is pro such libertarian / free market ideas.

Your help is greatly appreciated.

mmajzoub

Member

Re: Hello - Any Libertarians around?

So you guys can get a fast idea on how economic libertarians think, you can google and check the article with title "Is the adoption of zero-interest rate policy better for the Arab economies?". It compares how a Libertarian thinks regarding an economic subject (Dr. Saifedean Amous) compared to mainstream economists who come up regularly on TV (other prof in article).
The article describes the pros/cons of setting interest rates at zero so people can borrow money without the burden of having to pay interest..etc

bermudapineapple

Member

Re: Hello - Any Libertarians around?

Hey, welcome to the forum.

I'm more of a socialist.

Joe

Member

Re: Hello - Any Libertarians around?

Hello Mohamad and welcome to LebGeeks.

To start, it would be good form to include a link to the article you want to debate, instead of expecting people to look it up on their own.

About libertarianism, I tend to usually enjoy the idea of heightened individual liberties, limited government intervention and lower regulations. However, my ideals don't necessarily apply to the Middle East, a region where rampant lawlessness and an extremely high risk of actual war. A form of conservative government that provides (both economically and socially) to the lower and middle classes should be put, in order to increase the chance of surviving any upcoming crisis. Remember, in Lebanon a crisis is not just about a few banks going bankrupt. It's about civil wars and deaths.

That being said, I personally live in France now. I am appalled by the amount of regulation and government interventions in your life. It sucks big time. But people here seem to enjoy it.

mmajzoub

Member

Re: Hello - Any Libertarians around?

Hi rahmu and thx for your interest. I tried to post a link of the article, but it didn't allow me (even after adding the URL tag). Anyway, thx for your posting of the link.
Let's see if we get more reply from members before I reply to their thoughts. Also, I have in mind creating a debate post titled "The Myth of the Civil War causing the Lebanese Lira collapse"; in which section can I post it?

samer

Admin

Re: Hello - Any Libertarians around?

Hi Mohamad, it's good to have you here.

I tried to post a link of the article, but it didn't allow me (even after adding the URL tag). Anyway, thx for your posting of the link

New members can't post links (for the first few posts) to avoid spam. Sorry about that. It should work for you now.

a debate post titled "The Myth of the Civil War causing the Lebanese Lira collapse"; in which section can I post it?

You may create it in the forum lobby.

Regarding libertarianism, I am not well read in it so I can not form a solid opinion about it. However, for the past few months, I have been doing some extensive research about cryptocurrency and recently started studying it from an economic/social/political perspective, which delves into the territory of crypto-anarchy, which I suppose is somewhat related to libertarianism.

Anyway, I am looking forward to seeing you around here.
Welcome to the LebGeeks!

rolf

Member

Re: Hello - Any Libertarians around?

It's hard for me to place myself from the economic perspective. I believe to have seen the excesses due to lack of regulation, or on the opposite, excessive regulations and "nanny states". But on the matters pertaining to lifestyles and morals, you can consider me a libertarian, by belief.

MrElie

Member

Re: Hello - Any Libertarians around?

Hello Mohammad and welcome to the forums. Good to have you here

mmajzoub

Member

Re: Hello - Any Libertarians around?

Thx guys for all your replies.

>>rahmu
I'm glad that we share common ideas and ways-of-thinking. As for applying them to the Middle East, we have to think first that governments in a place like Lebanon (for example) are weak in applying the rule of law and judging for the good guy against the bad guy which according to Libertarians are the things that governments are good at and should be strong in instead of involving itself in education, healthcare, housing..etc - which are areas where the government shouldn't interfere in (be it here in Lebanon or any other place in the world).

>>samer
Yes, libertarians are close or anarchists, but there are quite some differences between them as libertarians say that there should be a strong government (especially at the local level) that's involved in things that government is good at like the police, civil defense, firefighting, courts system...etc - i.e. things that the private sector can't do it on its own. However, areas like housing, education, healthcare, social security, insurance are places that the government shouldn't have any involvement in and should be left to the private sector to work on it on its own.

>>rolf
Thanks for showing us your point of view. As you may already know, libertarians aren't against lack of regulation; on the contrary they support it :) If there need to be any basic kind of rules or regulations, they'd definitely prefer it to be at the local county/state level than at the global country or federal level.

I'll be posting some new debatable posts like "The Myth of the Civil War causing the Lebanese Lira collapse" to show you guys libertarians point of view of such topics.