HISTORY/CULTURE, POLITICS/ECONOMICS
A Rebuttal To ‘The Alt-Right Isn’t Libertarian’
By Shane Trejo
After first denying that the phenomenon was authentic, lolbertarians have developed a bizarre obsession with the alt-right. Perhaps it’s out of jealousy from being upstaged, as libertarians have waned substantially since the retirement of Texas Congressman Ron Paul. Without any leadership qualities to fall back on, lolbertarians can only do what they do best in an attempt to regain lost ground: whine.
Lolbertarians have nobody to blame but themselves for their unfortunate predicament. Lolibertarians acted in the exact same arrogant manner toward the alt-right that the political establishment acted toward the Ron Paul revolution when libertarianism invaded the public zeitgeist in 2007. In just a few short years, libertarians have gone from the dedicated opposition to the political establishment to just another arm of the political establishment desperate to protect its waning influence against outsiders.
While top lolbertarian personalities could have engaged in debate and discussion, they decided to cower instead. A mere conversation between Richard Spencer and right-libertarians sparked an ANTIFA riot and a Jeff Tucker tantrum during a Koch-funded astroturf conference in 2017.
https://youtube.com/watch?v=v20KQy6XMfU%3Fversion%3D3%26rel%3D1%26fs%3D1%26autohide%3D2%26showsearch%3D0%26showinfo%3D1%26iv_load_policy%3D1%26wmode%3Dtransparent
The embarrassing fiasco was emblematic of the movement as a whole. Because most libertarians didn’t have the courage to address racial or cultural issues, the alt-right was provided with a ripe opportunity for growth.
The Ron Paul faithful, many of whom were attracted to the ongoing battle against the reviled political establishment, weren’t content with retreating into ideological circle-jerks. They weren’t content to listen to the same boring speakers sing the same stale tune at lame meetings of dwindling relevance. They wanted to actually fight where it mattered and were drawn into the alt-right or the broader Trump nationalist movement as a result.
With the damage already being done, libertarians like to cry after the fact about the alt-right’s significance. Author Joseph Gatti wrote a particularly puerile and trite blog titled, “The Alt-Right Isn’t Libertarian” for Liberty Hangout that, despite its lack of interesting or thought-provoking content, serves as a great example of everything that is wrong with the “lolbertarian” mindset. For that reason, I am giving it a full rebuttal. Gatti’s blog begins as follows:
“One of the grossest political comparisons leftists and people who identify as alt-right will claim is that the alt-right is part of the libertarian movement. This has to be one of the most politically disingenuous claims to ever be made. To understand why this comparison isn’t true, we have to first define what a libertarian and someone that’s alt right are.”
Many leaders in the alt-right — including Richard Spencer of the National Policy Institute and Mike Enoch, host of The Daily Shoah — were initially Ron Paul supporters and involved in the libertarian and constitutional movement in the late 2000s and early 2010s. They bolted as the libertarian movement stagnated and did their own thing. The fact that many libertarians have followed them is a testament to their organizational prowess. If they are beating you in the marketplace of ideas, whose fault is that? Finally, even though it is true that the Alt-Right shouldn’t necessarily be categorized as libertarian, one can be both libertarian and Alt-Right simultaneously without logical conflict. See Rachels’ “For a ‘Libertarian Alt-Right‘” for more on this topic.
The Alt-Right does not want to be a part of the mainstream or “lolbertarian” movement that frankly consists of little more than a handful of children groveling for grant money. Mainstream media analysts have noted the genealogy of the alt-right and the libertarian to alt-right pipeline. These are undeniable facts, although squeamish lolbertarians are reticent to admit as much. By denying these obvious connections, lolbertarians just look weak, desperate and foolish (as they have constantly for the better part of three years now).
“A Libertarian is someone that values individual liberty, property rights and non-interventionism. For Libertarians, these goals are achieved by limiting the scope of the government. Libertarians oppose government intervention in domestic and foreign affairs due to the non-aggression principle (NAP). The NAP states that aggression is inherently wrong which means no one should use coercion, violence or any other form of forcible interference. However, Libertarians aren’t pacifists and support the right to self defense…
The Alt-Right is a white nationalist movement re-branded for the modern era to attract new supporters by tricking people. The Alt-Right often pretends to be a brand of libertarian or conservative thought but in the end of the day, they’re hyper authoritarian fascists. The Alt-Right ultimately believes that they must preserve a white majority nation and they’re willing to use state powers to enforce these rules.”
Notice during his definition — either because he’s a lazy writer or out of malice — Joe doesn’t even attempt to give a definition of what ‘alt-right’ really means. He doesn’t point out their actual policy positions. He omits the fact that the alt-right has recently led campaigns against war in Syria, against mass immigration from the third world, and for the right to free speech. These are all areas of agreement that any libertarian and any person on the alt-right should hold; but instead, for the purposes of virtue-signaling and groveling for scraps from the Koch brothers, lolbertarians have driven unnecessary wedges to sabotage sensible alliances and empower the Left by doing so.
“Libertarians unapologetically support free speech for all individuals and private property. The Alt-Right does not and this is shown by examining Libertarian and Alt-Right reactions to censorship on private platforms.
Facebook is a private social media outlet that has its own rules for what kind of content Facebook will tolerate on their website. Libertarians would argue that although Facebook’s actions to restrict free speech are bad, Facebook has the right to do so because Facebook is allowed to dictate how their property is used. Alt-Right individuals would argue that because the majority of the country uses Facebook to communicate with each other. Facebook shouldn’t be allowed to dictate what is being said on their property. Alt-Right individuals would use state power to force Facebook to operate in the way the state thinks it should. This severe difference action shows that not only does the Alt-Right not value free speech, they don’t respect the property rights of the individual.”
Heaven forbid, these Alt-Right individuals want to push back against their corporate masters. Don’t they know that is against the revered holy dogma of the market? Real libertarians know that these multinational corporations will be pressured by the marketplace to adopt the best practices — only that has never happened! We don’t live in an economy that is remotely close to a free market and never have. Facebook, Twitter and Google have to satisfy the demands of powerful bureaucrats and regulators, not their consumer base. That’s the reality of the situation, and the Alt-Right is actually fighting back against this menace.
Libertarians who bend over backward to defend the government-backed corporations that feverishly work to crush their rights and enact Big Brother really ought to ask themselves the following question: Am I a useful idiot for the neoliberal status quo? While you’re at it, ask yourself this question: Why are Alt-Righters being targeted by the political establishment while libertarians are not? Nobody cares about keeping Mises University from occurring, but they sure as hell care about stopping Alt-Right protests and rallies from taking place. And sorry, but receiving some mean tweets after staging a publicity stunt does not count as being targeted by the political establishment.
“Libertarians are racially and sexually ambiguous. This means that Libertarians believe that no one should be treated different because of their ethnic background or sex. This belief in racial ambiguity also means libertarians reject any form of ethnic nationalism. The Alt-Right exists as an alternative to mainstream right wing views that promote the concept of the ethnostate. The Alt-Right wants to secure the borders of historically white countries to preserve the white majority of these nations. Libertarians would argue that all individuals should be treated equally for their background. which the idea of securing the borders for the reason of securing an ethnic majority would be unsatisfactory for Libertarians.”
In other words, libertarians are fine with three-year old trannies because it’s not their child who is being abused. Libertarians do not care about third-world savages raping and pillaging their society so long as they can retreat to the confines of their private property. They don’t care about the detrimental effect the opiate crisis is having on society, as long as they can score their dope with Bitcoins or whatever. This is not what the public is looking for from their leadership figures. Sure, we can repeat some feel-good malarkey about how we are all our own leaders, but that doesn’t quite cut it outside of the echo chamber. The public wants answers for problems that are staring them dead in the face, and if libertarians fail to provide them with any answers, people will tune them out. No voter wants to hear about interest rates as their son is popping pills and daughter is getting her fifth abortion.
Finally, despite the fact that certain unsavory behavior may not be considered criminal from a strictly libertarian perspective, this does not mean that one should not apply social and economic pressures to deter and condemn degeneracy in all its forms. Moreover, one must also consider the fact that contractual covenant communities may be a tool that is perfectly compatible with libertarian principles, yet may effectively prohibit degenerate behavior.
“All of this boils down to the fact that the Alt-Right isn’t Libertarian, they are hyper authoritarian requiring the individual to surrender property rights, free speech and their ethnicity to the state. Being Libertarian means you support property rights, individual liberty and Free Speech. These principles are not interchangeable. In order to create the future the Alt-Right desires, it would require the Alt-Right to go against these principles. This would mean that the Alt-Right would have to destroy the liberty movement in order to reach its goals. There is no benefit for Libertarians to associate with the Alt-Right, they don’t represent anything a Libertarian stands for.”
Joe never showed why a group of white individuals couldn’t use freedom of association and property rights to buy land and form exclusive identitarian communities (see covenant communities). This is a perfectly acceptable arrangement under the principles of libertarianism, and I haven’t seen anyone provide a substantive refutation that demonstrates otherwise. Instead, the disingenuous opponents of identitarianism create strawman arguments and repeat vacuous leftist talking points. Lolbertarians do it because they are too afraid to address pressing racial and cultural issues.
The only reason an identitarian society is untenable right now is because men with guns from the State would show up to stop it. Diversity and multiculturalism are state-sanctioned programs for a reason. Communities that are more ethnically cohesive are well-understood to be stronger and more functional. These truths have been known since the days of Aristotle. The Marxists in power know that multiculturalism leads to more domestic strife, weaker community bonds and ultimately less liberty and a more powerful State. This is the real threat, but lolbertarians would rather repeat platitudes like “the left and the right are the same” because it is a convenient rationalization for inaction and surrender.
Libertarians understand economics, but they must learn that economics alone are not enough to power a movement. Appealing to the general public on the issues that concern them, perhaps through stoking populist fervor, is how they will be won to the libertarian cause. If libertarians don’t have the courage to even address racial and cultural issues, they will continue to fade. After all, it’s going to take real courage — not the media whoring and virtue-signaling of Liberty Hangout — to actually save Western civilization.
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