Brown Sludge

Anti-libertarian? Moi?

July 27th, 2006

I’ve been getting some harsh mails lately from libertarian-types that don’t care for the way that I poke them with sharp sticks from time to time (okay… I poke ‘em alla time).

That’s a fair cop.

Let me explain why.

Authentic libertarianism is (in my opinion) actually more accurately referred to as “anarcho-capitalism”. That basically means it’s an ideology that tries to pervert every social problem into an economic issue. Any sixth grader with a internet connection and a basic grasp on how to Google can look up any number of treatise from any number of intellectual giants that explain in detail about how immature and ideologically bankrupt deal anarcho-capitalist libertarianism is.

Which explains why nobody claiming to belong to the libertarian party has been elected so much as dog-catcher in the last 25 years.

But… that having been said. I don’t think most people who call themselves libertarians actually are libertarians.

They are what I call “cocktail party Libertarians”.

Robert Locke refers to them as “street Libertarians”.

If you think corporate greed is a “BAD” thing… trust me… you’re not really a pure libertarian. Anarcho-capitalists do not believe that there is any such thing as corporate greed. Period.

No… most people who call themselves libertarians are actually disenfranchised liberals (for the most part) or are dissatisfied conservatives that don’t like being confined to the label, or find themselves at odds with one or more of the planks in their respective parties platforms (see O’Reilly, Bill).

Which is fine. Call yourself whatever you like.

Unfortunately though, that’s one of my biggest problems with real deal anarcho-capitalist libertarians.

Because their product is so intellectually damaged and unsaleable – they are constantly seeking to re-brand it, and sell it under other names. Now, if you bought a product in a retail store that advertised itself as one thing, but was something entirely different when you opened the box you’d wail “RIP-OFF!” till the rafters shook, but… this is exactly what authentic libertarianism strives to do when it attaches itself to conservatism and conservatives and the Republican party in general. They can’t sell it under their own brand, so they try to sell it as conservatism. Ugh.

Authentic conservatives are wary of big government anyway, so they’re an easy mark for the Snake-Oil salesmen – and it’s that fundamental dishonesty that I find so distasteful. Their (anarcho-capitalist libertarians) penchant for putting body-snatcher pods under the beds of good, God-fearing conservatives is nothing short of disturbing. It’s something that I’d very much like to see an end to.

The reasons why Republican’s should shun anarcho-capitalism are legion, but start with it’s fundamental Godlessness, and keep moving down the list to the fact that their philosophical bent is actually that of classical liberalism thinly disguised as conservatism and you become sort of horrified by the realization that they attach themselves to Republican’s in order to gain a respect and a legitimacy that they did not earn.

One more thing about the anarcho-capitalist libertarians that chap-my-ass, and then I’ll let it go.

Yeah… you guessed it. The “Ayn Rand” thing.

I’ve studied Ayn Rand and her work at length, and while I can say the ideal of the Randian hero as an individual were powerful and life-changing ideals for me, I’ve also studied her deeply enough to realize that her godless philosophy of objectivism was deeply flawed, spiritually bankrupt, and intellectually dishonest.

It kills me the way that the AC libertarians have adopted her as an icon and by associating themselves with her help to kill off the good parts of her work by painting themselves with the bad.

I really resent that.

So… when you read me here ripping on libertarians realize that I’m probably really targeting those folks that put themselves up as authentic libertarians, anarcho-capitalist libertarians, minarchist libertarians. The ones Robert Locke refers to as the “Marxists of the Right”.

Not the disenfranchised “cocktail libertarians” that comprise 95% of the libertarians you meet on the street.

Keep them card’s and letter’s comin’.

Entry Filed under: General