Libertine means that.

That's already happening now. At least Trump is alerted that they'll keep trying.

Yeah...If it collapses I think the left will physically try to eliminate their competition.

Rand's prolonged affair with Nathaniel Branden suggests that sexual fidelity was not that important to her.

I think you've left out a big one. Libertarians run the gamut of belief and non-belief, not just in religion but in a lot of oddball practices including the occult. Rand (and Peikoff) did not see beliefs like those as harmless but as signs of irrationality and superstition that lead to Communism and fascism. To me that is Rand falling for the post-hoc fallacy, but it was a major show-stopper for her.

It depends on what you mean by collapsing. If Harris and her handlers were to win, I would expect to see a Latin American style dictatorship, with no civil rights and no dissent allowed, If we get there we're stuck there indefinitely, unless some outside power intervenes and saves us by installing a new Pinochet.

No, the notion of splitting the country, or at least making it much less centralized, can't happen if Harris wins. It would require someone like Trump to roll back Biden's changes, but then to see that coexistence with the far-left can't be stable.

The theory that voting to make the pendulum swing wider will result in it swinging back sooner.

I am 79 and I cant wait for the disaster of the decline to bottom out and perhaps see a resurrection of decent ideas. So, I would rather slow down the decline. after 4 years, the decline will continue though, because the intellectual basis of our society is rotten to the core

AR would surely pillory me for saying this, BUT. Common sense and using the test of what works in reality is a pretty good guide to life. Thats what I use day to day, and I think Trump does the same. I have read Objectivist theories, but they are a bit much for a lot of people. Common sense isnt that difficult.

I think your #5 sums up my feelings pretty close. The Decline is coming. The choice is Slow it down [Trump] or speed it up [Harris].

Yes. And I give credit to Trump for that. He thinks the country is worth it. I am not so sure that I would agree with that. We only live so long and to waste life juices in a continual fight like this seems a lost cause. The economy will surely crash if leftists policies are continually implemented, and maybe we should just wait for that to happen. Shrugging surely accelerates that.....

I think that Ayn Rand was into 100% or zero when it came to intellectual ideas. I think she felt libertarians were sort of on board, but intellectually compromised.

Trump is basically a good guy, but definitely intellectually compromised in the pursuit of actually getting things done. I dont think the general voting populace is ready for a john galt. I wont live forever and if I can get a 60% john galt, its better than 0% john galt (harris).

The basic reason for a republic instead of a democracy is to prevent the lowest denominator of people from taking over as they are right now.

but the deep state would just tariff everything to bring in more money...

8) Trump will get government off the a$$es of the producers here and won't support the money-grabbing "green agenda". Another definite plus.

Understood, and sorry for the snark.