Re: Libertarians are about Individual Resposibility...

"Individual responsibility" is what the pro-capitalist, pro-rich people refer to the idea of the government defending the right of the few to be massively wealthy while the majority live in poverty and to (as you said) force the poor to fend for themselves no matter how much the system screws them over. The Libertarians aren't alone in pushing for civil freedoms. The Marxists stand for NO POLITICAL STATE at all, which would totally end the concept of government where the few control the behavior of the many and to end the system where the few profit handsomely from the forces of production while the majority work to support the rich's lavish lifestyle. In a capitalist system, you can reduce the size of government all you want, and then the wealthy capitalists become the few who control everything. So you go from politicians controlling your life to capitalists doing it, and now you have no social services as a "safety net." This is why those that are rich or pro-rich dig the idea of "individual responsibility" so much, because that means they aren't entitled to help the people that their system throws to the bottom rung of the wealth ladder. If you have a capitalist system you NEED government to take care of the poor, otherwise poverty will become more rampant than ever before, crime will become greater than ever before, and a rebellion will eventually occur.

Further, the Greens also stand for civil freedoms, but they do not suggest doing cruel things like abandoning the poor at the same time. They are about keeping government "big" in regards to helping people and "small" in regards to interfering with civil freedoms. So don't be fooled by the "end big government" rhetoric of the pro-rich...they are only looking out for themselves, and their ideology is as cruel as it comes. Social services may not have ended poverty, but it did at least put a bandaid over the wound.

So don't think that the Libertarians are the only game in town when it comes to support for civil freedoms. They are far from it, and I WILL NOT support them as long as they remain anti-poor and pro-capitalist/pro-rich. As a member of the working class who is fully class conscious, that would be insane of me to do.