My political origin story is libertarian. I was required by a high-school economics/civics teacher to attend a meeting of a local political party, so I picked the Libertarians, as did most of my friend group who were outsider types. I've always felt like an outsider, the Libertarians seemed more skeptical of institutions and willing to consider alternatives to the status quo. It was kind of a perfect pairing for me. But I think what has happened with big-L Libertarianism is that it took money from lowercase-u uniparty groups that oppose Trump and other uncontrollable outside politicians of consequence.
I think in particular, because libertarianism is so unpopular, which is also why I loved it so much, is that they especially oppose any kind of political populism, which explains their recent leftward bent. Leftwing populism in America died with Bernie 2016 but its survivors are mostly people who support establishment/uniparty Democrats. I looked at UnPopulist's writings about the recent constitutional crisis in Texas and concluded this person is a Federalist, someone who trusts the big State and not the states. This is not in alignment with my understanding of libertarianism, and a major sign of how financial incentives inevitably shape viewpoints for the commentariat.
One thing wrong with Libertarians is that they think they do understand economics. What significant advancement has been made in their thinking since Mises and Hayek? And while they were RIGHT at the time, the important thing is that they LOST in the public arena. Keynes won, and that is reality.
The mainstream of Libertarianism is stagnant and drifting left (look at Reason), with anti-Trumpism. Libertarianism has no real future, that I can see. Great article, BTW.
Brilliant analysis of the current state of libertarianism as practiced by swamp creatures who never get out to see the impact of their theories in real life. Maybe an occasional visit to the many "homeless" camps all over the US where drug addicts are celebrating their "freedom" of drug induced mental illness might be a good place for them to start. Or maybe setting up a homeless camp in the CATO lobby might work as well.
My political origin story is libertarian. I was required by a high-school economics/civics teacher to attend a meeting of a local political party, so I picked the Libertarians, as did most of my friend group who were outsider types. I've always felt like an outsider, the Libertarians seemed more skeptical of institutions and willing to consider alternatives to the status quo. It was kind of a perfect pairing for me. But I think what has happened with big-L Libertarianism is that it took money from lowercase-u uniparty groups that oppose Trump and other uncontrollable outside politicians of consequence.
I think in particular, because libertarianism is so unpopular, which is also why I loved it so much, is that they especially oppose any kind of political populism, which explains their recent leftward bent. Leftwing populism in America died with Bernie 2016 but its survivors are mostly people who support establishment/uniparty Democrats. I looked at UnPopulist's writings about the recent constitutional crisis in Texas and concluded this person is a Federalist, someone who trusts the big State and not the states. This is not in alignment with my understanding of libertarianism, and a major sign of how financial incentives inevitably shape viewpoints for the commentariat.
I have always said that libertarians are just Democrat lite.
"...said I simply didn’t understand economics..."
One thing wrong with Libertarians is that they think they do understand economics. What significant advancement has been made in their thinking since Mises and Hayek? And while they were RIGHT at the time, the important thing is that they LOST in the public arena. Keynes won, and that is reality.
The mainstream of Libertarianism is stagnant and drifting left (look at Reason), with anti-Trumpism. Libertarianism has no real future, that I can see. Great article, BTW.
Brilliant analysis of the current state of libertarianism as practiced by swamp creatures who never get out to see the impact of their theories in real life. Maybe an occasional visit to the many "homeless" camps all over the US where drug addicts are celebrating their "freedom" of drug induced mental illness might be a good place for them to start. Or maybe setting up a homeless camp in the CATO lobby might work as well.