David Masciotra of Alternet explains why Libertarianism is not actually a political movement, and why it is actually a “childish sham”.
Ayn Rand is the rebel queen of their icy kingdom, villifying empathy and solidarity. Christopher Hitchens, in typical blunt force fashion, undressed Rand and her libertarian followers, exposing their obsequiousness toward the operational standards of a selfish society: “I have always found it quaint, and rather touching, that there is a movement in the US that thinks Americans are not yet selfish enough.”
Libertarians believe they are real rebels, because they’ve politicized the protest of children who scream through tears, “You’re not the boss of me.” The rejection of all rules and regulations, and the belief that everyone should have the ability to do whatever they want, is not rebellion or dissent. It is infantile naïveté.
As much as libertarians boast of having a “political movement” gaining in popularity, “you’re not the boss of me” does not even rise to the most elementary level of politics. Aristotle translated “politics” into meaning “the things concerning the polis,” referring to the city, or in other words, the community. Confucius connected politics with ethics, and his ethics are attached to communal service with a moral system based on empathy. A political program, like that from the right, that eliminates empathy, and denies the collective, is anti-political.
This is the most lucid explanation of Libertarian thinking that I have come across, all in just 3 paragraphs. It explains so much about why I can’t connect with Libertarian friends as I would like. Thanks you so much for this post. While I have issues with Hitchens… he had a way of saying things that left a sting and no doubt where he stood. And of course…Ayn Rand… I will never be able to relate to her line of thinking… it is other worldly.
The “Libertarians” want to get rid of public schools,
Get rid of Social Security (privatizing it, if you can afford it),
Get rid of Medicare (privatizing, if you can afford it),
Get rid of all income taxes and the IRS,
Get rid of all currency and tender restrictions so anyone or anything can issue money,
Get rid of campaign finance limits entirely (free market BS) and
“Libertarians” want the US to be totally isolationist (I guess that’s why Johnson had no clue about the oldest continuously human occupied city on Earth or any humanitarian crises there).
Libertarians want all the things of modern society but do not want to pay for any of them. Give them free cops, firefighters, EMS, waterways, bridges, highways, streets, lighting, street cleaning and maybe a fruit basket every month, too!Freeloaders!
https://www.lp.org/platform