Are Libertarians A Joke? A Rebuttal to Milo Yiannopoulos
In an October 16 interview with TheNation.com, Breitbart columnist Milo Yiannopoulos was asked whether libertarians are an acceptable alternative for right-wing voters who are tired of voting for establishment Republicans who flatter them with words but act the same as always. This led to the following exchange:
What about the Libertarians?
What about them?
Are they not an acceptable alternative?
No. They’re a joke.
Why?
Libertarians are children. Libertarians are people who have given up looking for an answer. This whole “everybody do what they want” is code for “leave me to do what I want.” It’s selfish and childish. It’s an admission that you have given up trying to work out what a good society would look like, how the world should be ordered and instead just retreated back into selfishness. That’s why they’re so obsessed with weed, Bitcoin, and hacking.
I always thought those were the most attractive things about them.
Maybe so, but that’s why you can’t take them seriously. It’s all introspective and insular and selfish.
Is this true, and if so, to what extent? Let us see.
Looking for an Answer
In order to say that libertarians have given up looking for an answer, it is necessary to be either ignorant or dismissive of massive volumes of literature produced by libertarians. But Yiannopoulos has somehow managed to do one or the other, if not both. It is not the case that libertarians have given up trying to work out what a good society would look like and how the world should be ordered, but that many of us are weary of being treated like Cassandra and saying “I told you so” to the mainstream body politic in response. In other words, withdrawing in disgust is not the same as apathy.
Doing What One Wants
Libertarianism is not about doing whatever one wants. One has no right to initiate the use of force against another person or their property. This does not change when people gather together, wear certain costumes, claim certain affiliations or job titles, or hold a vote. Respect for individual liberty is the difference between civilization and barbarism, between progress and subsistence, between peace and destruction.
Selfishness and Childishness
Yiannopoulos, like many critics of libertarianism (and Objectivism) before him, uses the common meaning of selfishness rather than the meaning used by libertarians (and Objectivists), which leads to his confusion. In the interest of avoiding confusion, libertarians commonly speak of rational self-interest and the drive to do what will maximize one’s own happiness and well-being. The freedom to pursue one’s self-interests without interference as long as one does not commit acts of aggression, to the extent that it is present, has led to the innovations that make Yiannopoulos’ life as he knows it possible, so it is rank hypocrisy for him to deride this as childish. In cases in which the pursuit of self-interest by each individual results in adverse outcomes for a group or the self-interest of a person is to game the system to one’s advantage, the state offers no solution and is frequently the cause of the problem. All too often, those who accuse libertarians of selfishness are committing the opposite sin; that of conspicuous compassion. Forced philanthropy is a contradiction of terms, and the result is frequently worse than the result of doing nothing to help those in need, especially when viewed through a Darwinian lens.
To be fair, libertarianism could be considered a childish idea in the sense that “don’t hit people and don’t take what is theirs” is simple enough for a small child to understand. The nuances that arise when responsibility is obfuscated, rights come into conflict, or aggressors must be stopped can be properly deduced by an older child unless adults fill their heads with falsehoods or neglect to educate them in the proper use of logic. But this is not what people generally mean when they call an idea childish.
Weed, Bitcoin, and Hacking
There are some libertarians who promote vices as though they were virtues and believe that decentralization alone can bring down the state apparatus without ever being used for evil purposes, but a significant part of the libertarian movement is not so foolish. While marijuana use tends to result in political cuckoldry, Bitcoin and hacking are causing real inconveniences for the powers that be. Bitcoin (or a superior successor) is capable of destroying the system of central banking and fiat currency that is financially oppressing the average person in order to benefit the politically connected wealthy. With releases that have exposed illegal behaviors by the national security state as well as the Clinton campaign, Wikileaks has proven to be a headache for both sides of mainstream American politics. There is good reason for libertarians to be obsessed with these anti-political methods of action, given that political methods have generally failed them.
Introspection and Insulation
Yiannopoulos seems to believe that introspection and insulation make a philosophy unworthy of being taken seriously. But introspection and insulation are healthy, even essential at times. If adherents of a philosophy do not come together among their own and do this, they cannot refine their beliefs or make important human connections with each other. If individuals do not do this by themselves, they cannot have the necessary focus to examine their lives properly.
There is a certain irony in this view coming from Yiannopoulos. “The unexamined life is not worth living” is a famous quote from Socrates, described by Plato as being uttered as part of his defense when he was tried on the charges of “corrupting the youth” and “not believing in the gods in whom the city [of Athens] believes, but in other daimonia that are novel.” Socrates was ultimately convicted and forced to commit suicide. If such charges still existed today, Yiannopoulos certainly would have been brought up on them by now.
Taking Libertarianism Seriously
In a sense, it is hard to fault Yiannopoulos here, given the cesspool of degeneracy that the Libertarian Party has become. This is a problem caused by leftist infiltration of the libertarian movement and the libertarians who allowed it to occur, and it is a problem with people rather than a problem with libertarian philosophy. Although Yiannopoulos is sufficiently intelligent to figure this out, he seems unwilling to do so. The works of Rothbard, Block, and Hoppe are no less valid just because people call themselves libertarians while doing their best to undermine the practice of libertarian philosophy.
Conclusion
Yiannopoulos calls himself a cultural libertarian, though this seems to be just another attempt to corrupt the message of libertarianism so that people can fake being a libertarian for their own personal gain. The joke is on him for rejecting liberty in favor of right-wing statism. He has shown his true colors, and libertarians should shun him.
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