Liberal [read: Libertarian] Groups In Somerville?

[smoterh.livejournal.com]

It seems like the Progressive Democrats of Somerville are very strong in Somerville and they seem to be a well organized and efficient group.  However is this the only organized civil/political group in Somerville?  I'm particularly interested in liberal/libertarian groups that may be active in Somerville. 

Comments

[pjmorgan.livejournal.com]

I'm confused, you're looking for liberal and libertarian groups? In theory liberals are libertarian when it comes to social issues, is that your angle? Or are you looking for civil libertarians (eg no wiretapping, etc)? On economics, libertarian means small government, liberals are all about big government (taxation to create social programs are the answer). Pretty irreconcilable positions.

[mrboboto.livejournal.com]

Just answering his question would've been a lot easier and saved you some typing.

I think the PDS are the only game in town, or at least the biggest. Haven't heard of anything else.

[pjmorgan.livejournal.com]

In that case the answer is no, there are no groups that are both libertarian and liberal. I'm not starting a political debate, just difficult to answer the question as written. So I don't understand your comment, or what its subtext is.

[mrboboto.livejournal.com]

There are also no electrical currents that are both AC and DC, yet AC/DC is still a great band name. / means "and/or", not just and.

[pjmorgan.livejournal.com]

A disingenuous and snarky reply. Its unlikely that anyone would be looking to join both types of groups and not a crime to clarify. The subtext to your posts is trollish.

[locke61dv.livejournal.com]

AC/DC is a great band name, but a shit band. There, I said it.

[mrboboto.livejournal.com]

A disingenuous and snarky reply. Its unlikely that anyone would be about to rock and not want to be saluted. The subtext to your posts is trollish.

[locke61dv.livejournal.com]

You're negating the opinions of those who want to rock in private, and not bear the burden of a public salute.

That's offensive.

[smoterh.livejournal.com]

I want me some American thighs.

[miss-chance.livejournal.com]

I wish all snarky and trollish threads made me laugh as much as this one!

[thetathx1138.livejournal.com]

I never get any credit for just making the effort.

[thetathx1138.livejournal.com]

So I don't understand your comment.

Allow me to explain:

mrboboto is attempting to reconcile the fact that you have spent more time parsing one question in a post and requesting clarification for a question that seems oddly more confusing than it should be to somebody who clearly demonstrates above average intelligence. He is gently satirizing your overthinking the use of a "slash mark", denoted from this point as "/", in a sentence when it would be much simpler and direct to interpret the "/" as an "or", which is a generally accepted interpretation of that particular mark of punctuation.

[hahathor.livejournal.com]

I think spending time parsing & clarifying the question is a good one. Otherwise you run the risk of providing useless and annoying information - like telling someone what types of stores are likely to carry non-bleached, organic, cotton stuffing, rather than finding out that the OP really wants to know... uh... something else... and... uh... providing the information that appears to be asked for in the original post is a grave insult to her and must be met with vicious ad hominem attacks.

So, see, it pays to take time to find out what the OP really means.

Can't we all just get along?

[thetathx1138.livejournal.com]

Define "we".

[intuition-ist.livejournal.com]

me & my friends, and not you ;)

Definitely not you.

[nvidia99999.livejournal.com]

...

[rmd.livejournal.com]

liberals are all about big government
not necessarily. and not all 'libertarians' are 'free-market libertarians'.

As for the actual question, while there are a lot of cause-specific groups. There are enough free-market libertarians locally that I'd be surprised if there wasn't a group, although it might just be at one of the local colleges. I don't know of any groups in this area promoting a left-libertarian or libertarian socialist viewpoint.

[smoterh.livejournal.com]

Since everyone definition varies, let me provide you with a standard:

Libertarian/Liberal (a follower of Liberalism) = freedom of personal choices, small government, laissez fair

Progressive/Social Democrat = freedom of personal choices, large government, heavy regulation of business and economy

Statist/Conservative = governmental control of everything, general suckiness

[wandelrust.livejournal.com]

Despite our differences, I'm glad that Libertarians and Progressives can raise a glass and agree on Conservatives' general suckiness.

[turil.livejournal.com]

The question is what are the people in power in the US now called, with their sort of freedom-of-choice-for-people-like-us, big corporatate-government, and heavy governmental support and financing of business sorts of policies?

[pristinepetals.livejournal.com]

I've seen these 'classical' definitions for liberal before, but can you point me to a link for that particular definition of conservative?

[winterhill.livejournal.com]

There is a Somerville for Obama Volunteer group that you can find details about here:
http://www.barackobama.com/splash/volunteer.html

[winterhill.livejournal.com]

Oh. This is liberal, not libertarian. Thanks for clarifying what you were looking for.

* This post now 100% snark free!

[plumtreeblossom.livejournal.com]

I didn't find any Somerville Libertarian groups when I Googled, but there is a Boston Libertarian group that appears to have meetups:

http://www.lpmass.org/affil.php

And since it's only 99% off-topic, I will share interesting (to me) news that The Whig Party (http://modernwhig.org/) has been resurrected as a socially progressive/fiscally conservative party with 30,000 members and a branch in Mass. Which may or may not interest you.

[turil.livejournal.com]

Well, the polyamory groups are pretty strong in the Camberville area. They aren't technically political or Libertarian as a whole, but the individuals who participate in the groups mostly tend to swing Libertarian. Especially the guys. And they actually have weekly meetings in Davis Square, too.

[cos]

I would not put it that way. I'd instead say that there are a few Libertarian guys who frequent poly gatherings. I doubt they're anywhere near a majority.

However, "liberal-libertarian" is a real thing, not a contradiction. It's what the ACLU is.

(speaking personally as a liberal-libertarian poly guy, I think we outnumber the Libertarians in the local poly crowd)