Libertarian Calls In To Debate Defunding Roads, Making Walmart Pay For Them & Other SUPER Hot Takes

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In this Majority Report clip, Sam Seder's dreams come true and a libertarian calls in to debate him.
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[@mrsax13]

"I'm not really advocating private roads or whatever." Now, let me advocate for the complete privatization of roadways.

[@summertime69]

If you're against public roads, and not advocating for private roads, then you're asking for no roads. That last part tends to escape libertarians

[@matthewcaldwell8100]

@L That's half true. Jet packs would exist. But only 3 rich assholes would have them.

[@s4njuro462]

I love how Sam's face immediately perks up when he hears that the kid wants to debate LOL

[@adamb1229]

Like a kid in a candy shop, i noticed that too. Immediately made me chuckle. Same look Larry Bird or MJ would give a rookie before ruining their life

[@mrsax13]

He's been saving up for over a year to unleash his whole arsenal of libertarian talking points on you, Sam. And this isn't even his final form! It's over 9,000!!!!!!

[@DavidHeffron78]

I saw “libertarian” and my heart soared. I was not disappointed.

[@cnferguson5]

Michael just has no patience for Libertarians anymore he just starts laughing as soon as they start sounding dumb as opposed to before he would wait until late into the calls to start laughing

[@wvu05]

Well, can you imagine how many of those he's been on the other end of? I am honestly amazed at how patient Sam is with these people.

[@OurEyesAreYetToOpen]

I think he got a hernia from "Weight-based tolls."

[@willdenham]

I listened twice, not sure what the caller is driving at as far as being against taxation. He wants just corporations to pay for roads?

[@adamjoseph6132]

i'm with you lol. this kid sounded way less libertarian-y than most of the kooks who call in to debate. it seemed more like he just hated corporations and wanted to destroy them all (props lol) - not realizing the short-sightedness of his plan. he definitely seemed to be on the right path, though. ​@@willdenham

[@summertime69]

I agree, let's end government subsidies to Walmart, by forcing them to pay their employees enough to not need EBT and housing assistance.

[@mpgallogly]

Make Wal-Mart pay for the roads??It seems like this guy is arguing for a higher corporate tax right.

[@tianamaycry]

No tax, only pay.

[@georgegillespie3737]

Our roads are supposed to be funded by gas taxes, so technically Walmart does contribute to our infrastructure.

[@willdenham]

@@georgegillespie3737 How is that walmart 'contributing'?

[@georgegillespie3737]

@@willdenham Walmart Trucks pay federal excise taxes on diesel.

[@willdenham]

@@georgegillespie3737 Like any other trucking line would and anyone else driving on deisel.

[@ThisPageStaysREAL]

Man I've been waiting for a fresh one of these. These libertarian deconstructions are my favorite Seder videos.

[@nosuchthing8]

Its hard to believe anyone would make these libertarian calls

[@alejandrobetancourt4902]

"Where you gonna get your jetpack?"

[@James-ye7rp]

Just spit-balling here; how about taxing the Walmarts of the world appropriately in order to cover these expenses?

[@ShiningSneasel]

Nah! Actually addressing the real issues is against libertarianism! You have to throw the baby out with the bath water!

[@philesq9595]

Oh, where's the fun in that?

[@blubberman911]

that's the funny part if you tax Walmart that's against Libertarian ideology which is Anti-Tax and against government doing anything

[@IncognitoSprax]

He's definitely under the age of 20 but it seems like he means well. He's arguing against monopolies like Walmart but his solution - well, he's been spoonfed Libertarian sauce. It's okay because I was briefly there at one point.

[@emmademontford3184]

Sprax guarantee this kid is a full blown liberal in the next 5 years

[@UberNeuman]

Libertarian logic. The finest reasoning skills a 5 year old can muster.

[@Useyno]

UberNeuman lol this seems so ridiculous that it almost seem staged.I think this dude have called into this show in the past. Libertarians like him are usually off Springs of middle class conservative backgrounds.

[@NuclearSharpShooter]

UberNeuman they have a million individual reasons for why libertarianism is awesome, and no matter how many times each argument is shot down one by one, they fail to see that libertarianism provides no coherent societal function.

[@Joeyboots80]

With all these bobblehead libertarians around, it seems Ayn Rand is still trolling us beyond the grave. Robble Robble!

[@nmarbletoe8210]

Libertarianism, like liberalism and conservatism, sucks rocks through tiny straws. Fact is, no "pure" philosophy works well enough to run a lemonade stand. So let's stop straw-manning all of these philosophies, and get real.

[@sabin97]

probably thinks tolls are "free market", and probably thinks you have a meaningful choice of roads.....

[@bigraviolees]

LIBERTARIANS, republicans with xtra cheese

[@havit94]

I actually like this guy, he seems so innocent when he's getting the piss taken out of him.

[@owelofminerva]

I REMEMBER THIS DUDE, he was the one that sounded like a 12 year old Libertarian Noam Chomsky.

[@jewsco]

He sounds like a 12 year old comic book guy from the Simpson’s

[@zspark14gamesnquips22]

"I'd rather arbitrate and litigate thousands of instances of the same thing rather than just creating a law."

[@Litkovian23]

6:00 that “weight based tolls” has me dying 😭

[@nojustusnopizzarolls3467]

15 hours in and I'm the first to use the "Ah, the old who will build the roads" quip from the 2016 libertarian primary debate? Shame, shame on all of you!

[@justinmack6351]

Sam, you cant beat libertardians over the head with logic and reason because they are already da best at logix according to themselves.

[@businessgoose6057]

Lol! Buses are gonna cost $8 in this kid's world. Ps I LIVE for the background laughing!!

[@gopeace4797]

Let's start where we can agree: stop military intervention all over the world, reduce military funding, end the militarization of the police. We can share the cost of the roads.

[@papasNbeer18]

Micheal brooks laugh is the greatest! RIP homeboy!

[@jebus571]

This kid has a bright future in weight-based toll economics.

[@zombi3lif3]

😂

[@jessecool8623]

Sam your level of patience is truly commendable!

[@ohreallyeliza]

MB as Peter Theil "Are you Greg's son?" Caller: "who?" Me: #DEAD

[@danheuser5148]

Some classic Michael Brooks comedy in this one. It gave me a good laugh. He will be missed.

[@ArchlordZer0]

This guy has to be a troll. I mean, come on!

[@seanwjones07]

I imagine this is how all trolls truly sound from the web lol

[@Eyoballin]

lol he just sounded young and misinformed. i wouldnt be surprised if he were only like 15 or 16

[@pauldhillon6635]

"Weight based tolls" is the greatest MR caller line ever

[@PR--un4ub]

HO-ASS TOLLS!

[@darrenwallace6161]

Walmart is free to build a road any time they want.

[@eddiemaxblack]

All of this is academic. If ever applied it'd be a complete disaster.

[@leonscott543]

Libertarianism is short for I only care about myself in all scenarios

[@blistu]

We have a system in my town where the home owner is responsible for a percent of road repair in front of their home. The city does all the maintenance its just replacement that has a bill. No one wants to pay it so they go to city hall and protest. The result is terrible roads.

[@Toywins]

And there goes libertarianism up in flames! 😂😂😂

[@nilkonom]

@@Toywins forcing people to finance (repairs for) public goods failed? its over for libertarianism

[@naqwnaqw3712]

Those laughs in the background lol

[@marie-laure.]

Feeling terrible laughing whilst watching you maintaining a really nice and decent composure 😂😈👏👏👏 I need lessons 😈😇

[@cloudatlas349]

"Local roads are kinda easily affordable..." I bet this guy's never seen a road built before.

[@sebastianholzl4668]

"Can we at least agree about the federal government after all my arguments have been terrible and we both know it?"

[@TheEvolver311]

He got off the phone, returned to his bed room, stared at the cover of his copy of the Fountainhead and told himself "the answer must be in here somewhere""

[@doratheexploder286]

How any adult can continue to play around with libertarian ideas is baffling. You would be hard pressed to make it work in a small community 200 years ago, never mind the highly tech-based society we live in now.

[@BaronVonQuiply]

Two Birds, One Jetpack.

[@zach-rac]

God, letting MB 'end' the segment was an amazing choice... Him yelling about blood in his "Peter" voice always makes me loose my shit - it's never not funny. xDDD

Libertarianism is metaphysical nonsense.

[@matthewcaldwell8100]

Michael's groan in the beginning off-air is my entire mood when someone goes out of their way to mention they're a libertarian.

[@alexjav21]

This guys isn't a _real_ libertarian.

[@airthrow]

alexjav21 well played, that always works!

[@user-lk7cv8vg7r]

No real communist would say the Soviet Union wasn't "real" communism.

[@mikalsolomon2131]

Oh my God are you guys for real, I love you guys, I even love the way you guys laugh. I just start laughing listening to you laughs.

[@markadams8041]

The original advocates for road building were bicycle riders. In 1890s everybody was riding bikes. There is identifiable culture called car culture. Lewis Mumford writes well about it. Please respect the overarching ideology as it is very much related to the category IV & V hurricanes that we are experiencing today. Car culture has also torn apart our cities and helped create the phenomenon of white flight.

[@bobdog90]

It seems to me the approach to this call was amplify the kid's point, which was that tolls should be more based on weight or perhaps profitability of the roadway use, then argue against complete redaction of federal subsidies. I'm not a libertarian by any means, but at least abide by your the logical standards to which you hold others.

[@Starcrash6984]

The very last thing "the kid" said was an argument for "complete redaction of federal subsidies", which is why it's clearly not attacking a straw man (which is what you're implying, even if you didn't explicitly state "the logical standards), but consider: the main problem was that "the kid's point" was muddled... it's hard not to attack a straw man when your target is blurry. Before arguing that "tolls should be more based on weight", it was that public roads should be left to rot in order to take out public subsides and Walmart's business "with one stone." Then it was that Walmart should pay for roads (no plan given for how to do that), then it was that the vehicles that destroy the roads the most should pay for them (plan of "tolls based on weight" proposed by Sam Seder, not "the kid"). It was a moving target, which is why Sam Seder's argument was also pretty fluid.

[@wvu05]

@@Starcrash6984 That, and trucks actually do have to pay more in tolls. Not by weight, but by the number of axles.

[@elsiegel84]

Truth is federal "tax money" doesn't "go to" anything - it is zeroed out on the government's balance sheet. The federal government does not tax to spend, it spends to tax.

[@AramaiJonassi]

OMG! This was the best call ever! You ended it just before it all popped off!🙉

[@unknown-hf3jg]

He makes a valid point about road tolls being based on a user pays system even though it would hurt the poor. However he's clearly wrong on transportation and sam called him out. I wish that the other commentators would stop interjecting because this kid was at least open to learning.

[@RealJackHQ]

There’s a Utica in Michigan too, so I got confused with Sam’s example. Sorry about the smart alecky humor. 😂

[@MrMasterDebate]

Isn't this the kid that called in ? The one who legitimately just talked endlessly???

[@willdenham]

God I miss Michael. What a joy he was.

[@BaronVonQuiply]

I don't have to point out that Walmart would just demand the local government pay for the roads or they'll "create jobs" elsewhere, do I?

[@concernedcitizen6313]

The caller is obviously ignorant, but the mockery was unnecessary, and there were several avenues of argument Sam could've taken along the way to get the kid to look at the bigger picture. For one, when the kid says, "The highways are already here," the obvious question is, how did they get here? Could they have possibly been built in his libertarian fantasy? If not, then isn't a sociopolitical philosophy supposed to stand on its own? If it can't, and it must rely instead on a pre-existing system of taxation, subsidies, etc., then isn't that problematic? The constant laughing in the background is probably not conducive to getting him to think more on these issues, though. But maturity from the MR is a little too much to ask for -- as exemplified by the bullshit attack on Jimmy Dore for, what, nothing? Were they trying to portray him as a libertarian? That makes no sense. This stupid fucking fued is entirely one-sided and demonstrates an arrogance that only Sam, Michael, and company could present while thinking they're intellectual liberals trying to make the world a better place. Even when they, soft of, defended him recently against CNN, they couldn't help maligning him. Fucking ludicrous. I keep trying to like Sam, and I often find his debates with libertarians amusing and even informative at times, but this was just ridiculous.

[@nosuchthing8]

This caller is kind of a super genius at being a knucklehead

[@darkeimp555]

So according to this kid he'd rather have us pay bit by bit throughout each day for every little thing we use. Turn on a light, get charged, turn on the tap water, get charged, get on the bus, get charged an ASTRONOMICAL fee because we'd be covering the bus's maintenance fees, gas, insurance, AND its extra weight toll, the driver's and all the other company employees' wages, PLUS a little extra to make it profitable for the company who owns it, or if we have our own car we'd be running up a toll for the entire time we're driving around which we'd have to pay out to each company who owns each section of road we'd drive on - which would be a nightmare if you wanted to drive across state let alone the country -so he'd rather have us manually go through all these little micro transactions EVERY. DAY. than to just pay a bit of tax passively from our paychecks or whatever each month to have all that shit taken care of without us worrying about it. I just don't think these people understand how much privatizing our society would get in the way of everything we'd want to do. And he has a LOT of faith in these companies who don't even follow through with the bare minimum they're required to do now to believe that if they were in charge of paying for roads and road maintenance that they'd ACTUALLY pay for it. If they even did they'd cut as many corners as possible and we'd have the worst, crumbling, dangerous roads in the world.

[@ASkepticalHumanOnYouTube]

We could also destroy the earth with a giant space laser and that would also get rid of Walmart!

[@Kropothead]

I mean… cooler than what we’re doing now.

[@jayburdification]

Still undefeated vs. Libertarians. It's not even fair, they have the harder argument. Actually make that the impossible argument.

[@tuffy135ify]

Libertarians always push privatization, because government wasteful spending. Never stopping to think government budgets never have to account for profit margins. But, sure, private businesses that need to make an ever-growing profit will definately cost less than government spending!

[@lindaleelaw5277]

I ride the bus in Denver and ridership is declining . Even with a full bus, the costs aren't covered. So how , without price gouging should I pay, my share ?

[@apuckingfanda709]

I feel like they are beating up on someone who may have “challenges” too much

[@TheJonnyEnglish]

Been a while since a libertarian called in. Doesn't disappoint

[@steelersguy74]

There’s a difference between the federal highway system that has existed for decades and roads that are built specifically for Walmart with tax dollars. I get the original argument the caller is making but he seems to get lost early on.

[@rangers1919]

Great tweet at the end.

[@jacquesfrancois2033]

I applaud this young guy, he's figuring out his politics, and it takes courage to call into a show like this. Sam is definitely a little arrogant but from his point of view it's justified. I think this guy thought a lot from this.

[@hairbruh4915]

what if i told you hes 27

[@harrychristofi6725]

As a Social Democrat (Progressive lol) the only thing I disagree with them is Economics basically anything that has to do with money and discrimination laws lol

[@gorillaguerillaDK]

Please, make it so we don't hear people laughing of him in the background! He is trying to make a sound argument, (but failing hard)! And the "is Greg you father" part was completely unnecessary! - By the way, did you know that in towns with less than 35.000-40.000 people and a local public transport system, it often would be cheaper for the town to make it free than it is to charge passengers to fund it, (due to the cost of administration)

[@kevinehrlich6988]

Could I please listen to the call from the 916 area code.

[@ohgoshtro]

Goddamnit we all need this funny stuff more often.

[@Toywins]

I didn't even know Emma was in the room till the end, lol, she couldn't hold back anymore! 😩😂

[@Marionettetc]

Emma wasn't on the show back then, it was Jamie

[@LukeSnD]

There is a total of 2,678,000 miles of paved road in the US. For every mile, it cost $2-5 million to build/maintain those roads. When you do the math, that’s around $2 trillion. So yes, Walmart would go bankrupt if they had to pay for that

[@stevenwhite774]

Don't forget that the federal govt. also subsidies airlines in a lot of ways.

[@ipodtouch495]

"In theory" Dave Rubin called in once?

[@CarsonZXY]

Does anyone know if this whole "libertarian debate" thing Seder does is Poe's Law in action? Because I can never tell if these "mainstream libertarians" are trolling.

[@matthewheywood8532]

So if you live in a small area and don’t have enough trucks to pay for the roads you are sol. Also don’t you think this corporations would just run smaller trucks with less axles to get around this toll? Getting around paying taxes is what corporations do

[@EdGarcia01]

I don’t agree with the caller, but I do appreciate his intelectual curiosity.

[@shadowsnake380]

I miss Michael so much.

[@mrddcass6540]

Yea, let's all take backroads for now on.

[@SpoopySquid]

Why do all the libertarians who phone in sound like they've only just graduated high school?

[@ProletariatPrince]

916 is my area code!?!? what!!! I wanna listen to that call!!

[@averyking1667]

Is this David Sedaris?

[@Liv_OW]

You should debate Ben Shapiro!

[@pshaw8406]

I'm all for Walmart putting more into infrastructure.

[@James-ye7rp]

What did the bird baths ever do anything to you?

[@vpohl5902]

Didn't realize Jody Foster was libertarian.

[@pablog2000]

I need to see him

[@SuperToughnut]

I suppose that as long as every human being thinks the same way, without mental illness, and we all are working toward the same goal, we can play paddy cakes on a warm summer afternoon and play "I-Got-Mine-You-Get-Yours".

[@FlaccidWeiner271]

Is that Nick Bravo?

[@garygood6804]

interstates have weigh stations.....

[@wgjung1]

We all know the solution for the road, I don't need to spell it out.

[@arniepye]

Lol this is obviously a kid, I feel bad for him, as he clearly hasn't developed the capacity to think this through.

[@Ancient_Pollyanna]

Gas taxes affect the poor in a way they don't affect the more affluent. They are arbitrary and unfair.

[@loydwebber5456]

The government should limit itself to things like building and maintaining roads and other infrastructure, and preventing theft, force, and fraud. That way it does not descend into things like the persecutions in the guise of services, such as those I detail in jpst.it/HVdZ .

[@TrashHeapCustodian]

All other factors aside, the thing Libertarians who advocate for tolls on all roads to fund them never ever seem to bring up, talk about, or even realize, is how entirely fucked the traffic situation would be if every road had tollbooths, lmao

[@ShiningSneasel]

The better case scenarios I can think of up in my head is that multiple companies in the same town own the roads and you'd have to pay a monthly pass at best to navigate around. Not to mention that if you actually want to leave town that could become cumbersome. It would essentially make for a few urban areas and very few farms/rural areas.

[@ericbilodeau8526]

This cant be a real caller. How is he smart enough to say weight/damage are exp. related but gas-tax/weight are linearly related which shifts a disproportionate amount of the tax burden on lighter vehicles, but the dumb enough to want to get rid of public roads to get rid of walmart?

[@niclasandersson7047]

There is a reasonable objection to have regarding gov subsidies of railway. Continental passenger traffic is highly costly and socially uneconomical. When Sam concludes that a more libertarian take on railways would mean that only densly populated areas would be trafficed, that is probably also the reasonable role for railway traffic in the U.S. I think the forced mandatory laughter in the background is just silly and unintellectual.

[@bobdog90]

I love Sam, but the peanut gallery laughing at a free-thinking child is a bit unnerving. Some douchebags deserve it, but this kid seemed genuinely open and was still laughed at.

[@NightfallGemini]

This isn't this kid's first rodeo. Cutting a bert slack after they actively haven't figured it out after years is foolish.

[@justinmack6351]

I mostly agree with you on this one. But sometimes its hard to tell the difference between an easily influenced teenager who may be a little misplaced VS the actual uninformed toxic shit-bag libertarians who are committed to the cause in the face of overwhelming reason

[@chukwudiilozue9171]

In a year his best argument was eliminating the highway system. That isn't funny.

[@MMAGamblingTips]

Ben, Just Ben I think he's much older than you think...and he's called in for the SECOND time and is giving a worse argument than before. But yea..Brooks is not as funny as he thinks he is.

[@atheistmecca]

His ideas deserve to be mocked.

[@jabbermocky]

Weight based tolls? Fatties pay more. Trump must LOVE this kind of juvenile reasoning.

[@judethaddeus9856]

Who cares if Walmart goes out of business?

[@bigdaddygoon828]

If the government don't print money there is no money and if there is not money then there no money to tax taxpayer with it's really not about who has the money in their hands it's about whose names on the money and who names on the money a government official multiple