Real Time With Bill Maher: Trashes Paul Ryan & Libertarians

Source:Mediate- Real Time With Bill Maher. U.S. Representative Paul Ryan (Republican, Wisconsin) and U.S. Senator Rand Paul (Republican, Kentucky) also in the background.

"Bill Maher ended his show tonight by railing against a political movement he has aligned himself with in the past: libertarianism. He slammed the current wave of libertarians, among them Paul Ryan and Rand Paul, for having a “creepy obsession” with free markets, Ayn Rand, and government staying out of the way. He made it clear that he has not abandoned the libertarianism altogether, saying, “I didn’t go nuts, this movement did.” 

From Mediate 

"On this week's episode of "Real Time," Bill Maher used his final "New Rule" of the night to take on Libertarianism and the conservatives whose obsessions with Ayn Rand have "ruined" the political philosophy for him.

Once a supporter of Libertarianism and its views on government intervention, Maher explained why he thinks politicians such as Paul Ryan and Rand Paul are "intellectually stuck in their teen years" and have turned a once promising movement into a free market-obsessed, "nanny state"-fearing delusion.

Maher went on to defend his new views on Libertarianism by mocking the party's tendency to reject government services even when they are arguably very useful:

"To everyone who keeps trying to shame me about abandoning my Libertarian moorings, my message is this: I didn't go nuts, this movement did. Like when you see a stop light, your reaction should be 'Great, an easy way to ensure we don't all crash into each other,' not, 'How dare the government tell me when I can and cannot go!" 

From The Huffington Post

To be completely fair and accurate: (which unfortunately would make me unique) I don't think Bill Maher was ever a Libertarian. At least not in the classical sense, which is the only sense of libertarianism that I've ever respected or even understood and take seriously. At least not since he's been a national talk show host and he's had that job for the last 20 years.

Bill Maher voted for John Kerry for President in 2004, Barack Obama twice in 2008 and 2012. Whatever you think of John Kerry's of President Obama's politics, if they're Libertarians, then so is Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell and so is Bernie Sanders. 

Bill Maher has always respected Ron Paul, but he also likes and respects Socialist Senator Bernie Sanders. Maher has always been a big government out of our bedrooms and personal lives all together Liberal (or Classical Liberal, if you prefer) who really doesn't want government running our economic lives either. But he's never supported eliminating the safety net or regulatory state and has always been a strong believer in the rule of law and somewhat hawkish on national security and foreign affairs. You know, like a real Liberal.

So I'm not surprised that Bill Maher would be going after the later political reality TV stars (or political escaped mental patients, if you prefer) people who call themselves Libertarians, when they actually don't seem to have any role for government at all. 

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