The dumbest libertarian quote ever

OK, I know there must be rational libertarians out there somewhere, but I never seem to encounter any who don't go completely off the deep end, following their political philosophy to its most absurd conclusion.

Take, for example, the following quote. Apparently, libertarians in New Hampshire are upset about an action by the state Division for Children, trying to protect an infant from an abusive father. Maybe they have reason, maybe they don't. I'll let the citizens of New Hampshire figure that out.

But check out this post by Tom Scocca at Slate. Here's an excerpt:

The ones who made it into the Concord Monitor, anyway, are sad crackpots. "The fact that there are documents about it is meaningless," one told the paper.

The most amazing voice from the anti-tyranny forces, though, belonged to a woman named Amanda Biondolillo, from Concord:

"The family should be left to resolve it on their own," Biondolillo said. "Or private enterprise - private companies can contact the family and say, 'We heard you were hitting your kids. Can you stop that?' "

Is Amanda Biondolillo a prankster who shows up at protests to say things to make libertarians look like morons? Her online presence looks sincere. But: really? Private enterprise! The solution to domestic violence is for there to be private companies that will go around telling people to please stop hitting their kids. Oh, the parents will say, we hadn't thought of that. We will stop hitting the children now.

Do you see why I have a hard time taking libertarians seriously? In moderation, they could probably contribute to our political discourse. But have you ever known a moderate libertarian? I haven't. Once they jump on the libertarian bandwagon, they always seem to ride it right over a cliff.

I don't care what your political philosophy might be - reasonable, rational people keep in touch with the real world. Extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice? Yes, it is. In the real world, when fanatics start talking like that, it's always more about extremism than it is about liberty.

Private property is good, in moderation. We still need laws. We still need government regulation. We still need a social safety net. Arguing about "capitalism" and "socialism" abandons reality for rhetoric. The fact is, we need both.

Our nation seems to be awash in extremism right now, with nothing too batshit crazy for the Tea Party types. And sadly, this kind of environment seems to draw libertarians out of the woodwork. True, the vast majority of Tea Partiers aren't libertarians. In fact, they're the same right-wing fundamentalists who brought us George W. Bush. But the crazy does seem to attract libertarians, doesn't it? Like a moth to a flame.