Libertarians and Groucho Marx

Those are my principles. If you don't like them I have others. - Groucho Marx

By Rich Kozlovich

I really do think that statement by Groucho Marx defines Libertarianism, as over the years I've been impressed, amused, but mostly confused by libertarians.  Are they conservatives? Are they liberals? Are they leftists?   Yes, they are, and where they fall on an issue depends on the issue.  That's what drives everyone crazy.   Their consistent lack of consistency, so if you consider Libertarians conservatives that's understandable as here's what Libertarians believe in:

"('freedom') is a political philosophy that upholds liberty as a core value. Libertarians seek to maximize autonomy and political freedom, emphasizing equality before the law and civil rights to freedom of association, freedom of speech, freedom of thought and freedom of choice."

"Libertarianism is a political stance generally known as about the idea of individual liberties, responsibility/self-ownership, and free choice. It says the government should have less control over the lives of its citizens and should let them be responsible for themselves without the involvement of the government."

"The Libertarian Party (LP) is a political party in the United States that promotes civil liberties, non-interventionism, laissez-faire capitalism, and limiting the size and scope of government."

Sounds conservative doesn't it?  If you think that makes them conservatives, then stop it, they're not, they're merely like a stopped clock that's right twice a day.  Libertarians are as dangerous as Wokesters.  

They don't believe there should be any restrictions of drug use, claiming people should be able to use whatever they want as long as they don't harm anyone but themselves, and claiming the damage they do to themselves will in itself limit such behavior.   

That's a load of horsepucky.  

The world of illicit drugs isn't a harmless world!  Not only do they destroy themselves, they destroy the lives of many around them, and then the bleeding hearts who support this clabber demand we "help" them.  Give them money.  Give them food.  Give them free health care.  Give them housing.  But most importantly, never judge them.   That's not a harmless outcome, and the problem gets bigger.

Tolerance becomes a crime when applied to evil. - Thomas Mann (1875 - 1955)

Make no mistake, these drug addicted people absolutely do not care about the delusional thinking of Libertarians.  Violence, prostitution, and criminal activity is part and parcel of their lives.  The association between drug abuse, social unrest, economic failure, and violence, including domestic violence is an undeniable reality.

That's history and that history incontestable.  Aren't Libertarians aware of that? 

Libertarians don't believe there should be any restrictions on travel and immigration,  

"Libertarians believe that people should be able to travel freely as long as they are peaceful. We welcome immigrants who come seeking a better life. The vast majority of immigrants are very peaceful and highly productive. Indeed, the United States is a country of immigrants, of all backgrounds and walks of life…"

Well, the only problem with that that's a logical fallacy, because it's only partially true.  Unrestricted immigration breeds crime, since a huge number of these people are criminals, and even those who are not are bringing their cultures with them, and doing so to end the American culture, and they're bringing their diseases with them.    

We're seeing the results of unrestricted immigration from Africa, and the Middle East has done to Europe, and we already know Europe is doomed economically, socially, culturally, and will soon be violent beyond anything we've seen, and make no mistake about it, if Islamists take over a nation, there will be no freedom to do anything that violates the Muslim conscience.   And the penalty for those violations will be death.   

That's history and that history incontestable.  Aren't Libertarians aware of that?

When it comes to taxes, regulations, free speech, education, and a host of conservative issues, they're right on, but when it comes to free trade, they're living in an intellectual light bulb...a vacuum.    They present all sorts of charts and figures that assure us free trade is an economic boon, and it can be, but in reality that "free trade" dream world where free trade is free....welllll.... it isn't! 

India just recently put tariffs on "imported goods, such as cellphones, so that firms that make money in India get additional protected profits from selling into the Indian market".......and  "offer large subsidies to manufacturing companies that set up shop in India." 

While restricting trade may impact large international corporations profits negatively, we need to ask ourselves, are trade restrictions good or bad for small privately owned companies, and America as a whole? 

Libertarians have no workable policy.  What they have is nice sounding rhetoric that's amounts to philosophy without form and so they just talk, talk, talk, talk, which is their speciality by the way.  In the end, they stand for everything, and they offer for nothing.  Even Libertarians can't properly identify who and what they are, a problem they share with Republicans. 

The Democrats are the party that says government will make you smarter, taller, richer, and remove the crabgrass on your lawn. The Republicans are the party that says government doesn't work and then they get elected and prove it.  P.J. O'Rourke

Accepting their Pollyanna view of how the world should work would destroy any society that embraces their delusional world. Because once you get past the rhetoric, we find what they really want is to be able make up their own rules to suit themselves as they go along, and without consequence for their actions. Delusion!   There is no sound, rational, or stable moral position or foundation for Libertarianism.   It's philosophy without form!

"Libertarians, we seek a world of liberty: a world in which all individuals are sovereign over their own lives and are not forced to sacrifice their values for the benefit of others."

Trump recently spoke to Libertarians, attempting to get their support, and was booed by them, in spite of the fact he's as close to a Libertarian President as they're ever going to have.  That effort was silly, and he should fire whoever recommended that move. 

Libertarians as a whole will mostly likely vote for Trump anyway because they don’t have a choice. Does anyone really believe the sane members of their group are going to support the lunatic the Libertarian party has chosen to run?  All their high highfalutin rhetoric is in rality defined by who they've chosen as their candidate for President, Chase Oliver, a radical leftist who supports Black Lives Matter, Drag Queen Story Hour and big tech censorship. These are the nitwits that booed Trump. 

"Unlimited tolerance must lead to the disappearance of tolerance. If we extend unlimited tolerance even to  those who are intolerant, if we are not prepared to defend a tolerant society against the onslaught of the  intolerant, then the tolerant will be destroyed, and tolerance with them" - Karl Popper, in "The Open Society and its Enemies" (1945)

Libertarianism is an ill defined philosophy that can be a moving intellectual and emotional force for some conservatives, but not a stable force.  Libertarianism holds little appeal as a lasting, effective stand alone governing philosophy, one that will stand the test of time.  For libertarianism to work it would require people to become much more introspective and much less self serving, and that would have to be "the"  accepted universal social paradigm, and that just ain't gonna happen.   

So what do Libertarians believe in that works as a societal construct?  Nothing.