On Libertarians

Disclaimer: This post is not wholly representative of my typical writing and structure, but is more a response to a packed series of recent days spent talking with Libertarians.

Moving on...

Recently, I had a pretty extensive debate (surprised? ;)) with a Libertarian over the prospect of guns in schools. While I won't start on that one here, I want to make some notes about some of the ideas that Libertarians seem to entertain about not only everyone and their place in society but their own place in it.

First, let me get it out there: I'm talking about the ideology as it is manifested in the United States, as I'm uneducated on how it pans out in other countries (where it is even relevant there). I do personally think the ideology is warped and detatched from reality, which I will explain my reasoning for here. I furthermore state here that there has never been a functioning civilized society that has not had taxation or regulation. That all being out in the open, I find that most Libertarians fall under one of these two categories:

1. A teenager (or someone who is still living a teenagers, parent-subsidized life) reading Ayn Rand in his room, with enough money in his life that shields him from the full effects of his choices. And with zero consciousness of this fact. Typically, it's someone with no real experience in the real world.

2. People who play video or computer games and believe that DOOM and Mad Max are optimal descriptions of the potential nature of human interaction and relations. In short, one who romanticizes the world based off of nothing corroborated by reality.

Lately, I've run more into the first type (the shielded Libertarian) than the second (the romantic). I should also mention advisedly that the vast majority of Libertarians with whom I've had the opportunity to converse with are typically male, straight, and white in social categories. This is not always the case, but is in such frequency that it becomes unsurprising after a while.

I often hear Libertarian-minded types repeat a claim that "Well, if you don't like your job, just quit and get another one! It's the beauty of the free market!" as if that would change anything for an individual, as if the class of people blithely ditching their jobs are worlds different from the people most able to pack up and move away from a conventional, state-based dictatorship. They are often blinded, willfully ignorant of, or incoherently educated on class matters.

Structural and institutional realities are also something Libertarians tend to be either unaware of or grossly misinformed on. I’ve seen and heard from kids whose parents put them through good high schools, expensive after-school programs, and good colleges where they had their room and board, books and tuition fully paid for or subsidized in some other way they were not responsible for claim that they got where they were entirely on their own merit. They have a hard time imagining that someone without those privileges would find it more difficult to achieve on the same level. Also, Libertarians often deny that structural barriers to success even exist, and it’s typically because they haven’t encountered them. I had one person argue with a straight face that a CEO really works 2000 times as hard as a janitor holding down two full-time jobs.

Libertarians tend to tout an oft cited claim (with, funnily enough, no tough evidence to back up) that regulation kills efficiency and growth in the marketplace and economy. This is usually said with zero to no ironic understanding on their end that this most recent global financial crisis followed a decade of massive deregulation of the markets and historically very low tax rates. Using their simplistic litmus test, their philosophy fails on even a decade trial run.

Libertarianism is lacking in real world application and understanding, much like many of its adherents and preachers. Beware their simple, bumper-sticker explanations of events and phenomenon with no further analysis that holds up with fact and historical trends.