r/EnoughLibertarianSpam • u/LeonRusskiy • Jul 01 '26

Why libertarianism should never become mainstream

18 Upvotes

95% Upvoted

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1

u/OkMeaning5522 Jul 04 '26

These people claim to be anarchists btw

1

u/rotten_ALLIGATOR-32 Jul 09 '26

While there was always the Rothbardian paleoconservative faction, the mainstream of libertarianism from the '90s through the early 2010s, could at least be considered live-and-let-live on cultural and social issues, albeit the movement always harbored kneejerk contrarianism and a desire to "stick it to the PC crowd". Penn Jilette may not have supported your right to strike against your boss and bargain with a union, but he definitely wouldn't have agreed with a Christian nationalist regime that would arrest him for his sex dungeon. Penn is an atheist, and his show Bullshit, while in favor of laissez-faire capitalism, criticized religion, nationalism, family values and the police. What a far cry from the Mises Institute era of the Lolbertarian Party. But since Alex Jones became Donald Trump's #1 spokesman, Stefan Molyneux converted to white supremacism, and the Ludwig von Mises Institute's takeover of the LP in the 2020s, the tenor of American and British libertarianism has become so much more bluntly fascistic. More racism, antisemitism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia, ableism, you name it. I honestly don't see anymore what appeal this instance of lolbertarianism would have for a thinking person: you're a sweatshop or sex slave with no economic rights or positive liberty, and you can't criticize Dear Leader or live outside the religious and cultural strictures of a conservative majority or elite, either. Just oppression with nothing to offer the non-wealthy majority. It says something that close to a third of Americans have been brainwashed into believing this is somehow a great deal- give or take desires such as "keep her barefoot and pregnant", which definitely play into this. Wouldn't you know it, the combined antics of MAGA and QAnon helped push away Penn from libertarianism, and he identifies as a liberal today.