If you’re going to tag me on Facebook, please tag me on good stuff.

Someone I don’t know (but was connected to on Facebook) tagged me on this meme about “dragging libertarians” (pic 1): “Lou Perez, time to get trolled you dirty government hater. 😘”

My response went something like, “I’m not Joe Walsh. But I’m happy if you want to send some attention my way: We the Internet TV.”

I wish I remembered the exact wording, but unfortunately my response is no longer up there. The OP deleted it. Because they didn’t want to send traffic to my page. (pic 2)

I told the OP and the tagger that I didn’t know them and “If either of you would be kind enough to untag me, that would be kind enough.”

I’m guessing it was the OP who blocked me after that. (pic 3)

If you’re looking to troll, you should probably be ready to troll. And if you’re looking to troll libertarians, I can help you do a better job of it.

To wit: "Some libertarians are mad that the Holocaust was carried out by the state instead of the free market.”

The OP’s example is a pretty shitty one. It doesn’t make for good trolling. But it would make for a good conversation. I think the kind of conversation I’d be open to having.

We could talk about eminent domain, which is a subject dear to me. One reason why I support the Institute for Justice is because they’ve taken on cases of eminent domain. (Kelo v. City of New London is one in particular that upsets me.)

For the purpose of conversation, if the government seizes private property, do you believe the owner of that property should be compensated for the taking? I do.

We could talk about qualified immunity, which is another subject dear to me. In particular when it comes to no-knock raids (which often involve the subject of civil asset forfeiture). If law enforcement damages property (or life?), do you believe the victims should be compensated for that damage? I do. (We could get into specifics. E.g. the people whose lives have been destroyed and who were never even charged with a crime!)

Why do I bring up these two topics?

Well, because there might be an argument to be made that if the government forces businesses to shut down (or to take on any number of changes that loses said business income) that the right thing to do is to have the government compensate those businesses for their losses.

(We could talk about my family’s business: a butcher shop that my family has run for almost as long as I’ve been alive. We can talk about how they’re responding to state-wide and city-wide decrees; what impact they’re having on the business; on their mostly immigrant work force; on the large minority community they serve; how my family is handling these dire times and preparing for the future.)

One of the upsides of holding minority opinions (GUILTY!) is that you’re kind of forced—but not in the way government forces you—to engage with others who hold different views, many times popular views.

As a libertarian, I know a good amount about libertarianism, but I also make sure to know a good amount of stuff outside of libertarianism.

I joke that my goal is to always know just enough about a topic so I can tell when someone is bullshitting me.

Believe me: it makes for better conversation and for better trolling. 😘🥰