Category Archives: libertarianism

UPDATED (2/11): Trumpeting The Hardcore Libertarian Take On Jan. 6 Capitol Incident

Democracy, Donald Trump, libertarianism, Paleoconservatism, Paleolibertarianism, Propaganda, Republicans, Taxation, The State

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It bears repetition, hence the repetition in this week’s column, “Trumpeting the Hardcore Libertarian Take On The Jan. 6 Capitol Incident“—an incident, riot, certainly not an insurrection—which has intensified the real insurrection, ongoing against MAGA America:

Excerpt:

…It’s no secret that rock-ribbed libertarians—as opposed to the lite, fluffy establishment libertarian—view the State, certainly in its current iteration, as a criminal enterprise. For it operates with force and without the consent of the governed.

If you are tempted to argue this theoretical point, think only of the meaning of the 2020 election:

Upwards of 81 million people, or 51.3 percent of those who voted, not of the people, get to impose their will on more than 74 million, or 46.8 percent of the voters, as well as on the millions who didn’t vote.

Moreover, the winner in an election is certainly not the fictitious entity referred to as “The People,” but rather the representatives of the majority. And while it seems obvious that the minority in a democracy is openly thwarted, the question is, do the elected representatives at least carry out the will of the majority?

The answer is No! In reality, the majority, too, has little say in the business of governance – they’ve merely elected politicians who have been awarded carte blanche to do as they please.

Carte blanche because we are no longer a republic in which central authorities have only limited and clearly delineated powers. Certainly, all the people in the commonwealth are compelled to do as the Permanent State and the new, incoming state dictate.

No! Government governs without the consent of the governed, for the most, and with the backing of often-brutal police powers. …

MORE on WND, The Unz Review, or The Quarterly Review.

UPDATE (2/11):

Jan. 6 shows the difference between the paleoconservative (Pat Buchanan) and the paleolibertarian (me): Buchanan: “Of all the riots in 2020 and 2021, [Jan. 6] was the unforgivable one.” Me: Destroying private property is way worse than harming the state.

UPDATED (1/25): NEW @AMERICAN GREATNESS: A Hardcore Libertarian Take on the Storming of the Capitol Building

Argument, Classical Liberalism, Government, Ilana Mercer, libertarianism, Old Right, Paleolibertarianism, Private Property, Republicans, The State

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“Our country is not to be equated with our Capitol”

FEATURED ON AMERICAN GREATNESS: “A Hardcore Libertarian Take on the Storming of the Capitol Building:

… Like us or not, the radical, libertarian propertarian—who does not live inside and off the Beltway—will strongly disagree with the contention of the Trump-blaming Breitbarters.

A certain kind of libertarian, the good kind, distinguishes clearly between those who, like BLM, would trash, loot and level private property—the livelihoods and businesses of private citizens—and between those who would storm the plush seats of state power and corruption.

…MORE.

A YouTube complement to the column is available.

In fact, a chuckle was in order in response to one of the comments on the thread. It reflects a perennial sentiment readers have expressed almost weekly, over the past 20 years (and counting).

Not a week has gone by when this kind of missive hasn’t reached my in-box. This gentlemen, like others I know (“Juvenal Early,” author of “The Dissident Right Has An Idiocracy Problem”), is quite annoyed.

Why in G-d’s name don’t I see your videos posted on American Greatness, American Renaissance, VDARE, Lew Rockwell?! They should be!

Reply:

(You forgot Taki’s and Chronicles magazine.) American Greatness obviously publishes me. They are … Grrreat. As does AR. As to the others, ask them. The husband (a pretty smart guy) says, “A’s hire A’s and B’s hire C’s.” Ha, ha! Beware the scary lady.

(Highest praise, really. In this context, I am reminded of Alexei Sayle, a scrupulously honest British comedian, perceptive about human nature, too. When asked what he does when he watches a really talented satirist performing, Sayle replied: “I go back stage and tell him he’ll never make it.”)

Anyhoo, “A Hardcore Libertarian Take on the Storming of the Capitol Building” is on The American Greatness, which is leading the intellectual charge in the post-Trump era.

UPDATE (1/25):

TreeofLiberty • 14 hours ago • edited

 

….. “The state’s standard operating procedure is to fleece us without flinching . . . to fatten its members . . . [and] increase their sphere of influence”

….. “Taxes . . . the shakedown funds extracted by the syndicate that is the state”

….. “the cowardice of the garrison city-state that is Washington, D.C. . . . the political parasites who comprise it are shielding themselves from us”
– ILANA MERCER

ILANA, you’re my kind of gal !!

Your descriptions of “the state” apply to our American federal government—-and to many state
governments—-for only, roughly, last 90 years. Prior to that point, our federal government was much more benign. Much more the way our Founders intended it to be.
Our mission is to re-claim that former style.

It seems to me you are more of a 19th. century-style classical liberal,
than a modern-day, drug-crazed “libertarian.”
You might reconsider your own appellation.

Sam McGowan • 11 hours ago

This is the most logical article I’ve seen on this site in a long, long time. The true “conservatives” are classical liberals who actually believe in freedom rather than just being the party in power.

Purloined Imprimatur • 12 hours ago

My advice to the writer: duck! That rumbling sound you hear is the sound of the establishment orthodoxy coming for those who dare speak The Truth That Shall Not Be Named.

lapsus calami • 17 hours ago

Finally, an article that properly analyzes what happened on Jan 6., including consideration of the fact that the federal government is no longer legitimate.

UPDATED (1/22): NEW COLUMN Offers A Hardcore Libertarian Take On The Storming Of The Capitol Building

Free Speech, Government, libertarianism, Liberty, Paleolibertarianism, Political Philosophy, Private Property, Taxation, The State

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NEW COLUMN, “About Those Citadels of Statism (I Mean, Democracy),” examines the attack on the Capitol Building from the perspective of the “rock-ribbed libertarian—as opposed to the lite, establishment libertarian.”

For now, you can read it on WND.COM and the Unz Review.

An excerpt:

… A certain kind of libertarian, the good kind, distinguishes clearly between those who, like BLM, would trash, loot and level private property—the livelihoods and businesses of private citizens—and between those who would storm the plush seats of state power and corruption.

For the State is an entity that, by definition, forsakes the legitimate defense of the lives, liberty and property of its citizens. The State’s standard operating procedure is to fleece us without flinching, all the better to fatten its members and, reflexively, to increase their sphere of influence.

Libertarians who live by the axiom of non-aggression will always prefer the man who proceeds against the State, governed as it is by force, to the man who destroys private property, rooted as that institution is in peaceful, just, voluntary transactions.

There, I’ve said it!

It’s no secret that rock-ribbed libertarians—as opposed to the lite, establishment libertarian—view the State, certainly in its current iteration, as a criminal enterprise. For it operates with force and without the consent of the governed. …

… Truth be told, to the non-statist libertarian, those “citadels of democracy” mean very little that is good.

Our country is not to be equated with our Capitol. …

… READ THE REST.  NEW COLUMN, “About Those Citadels of Statism (I Mean, Democracy),“ is on WND.COM and the Unz Review.

Readers agree:

Sluggo56

Again Miss Mercer, solid and on target! Well stated! I am becoming a fan of your ability to see reality for what it truly is.

Kerry_C:

“this column is just so good and on the money, that I have nothing to add. This alone, ‘In contrast, the ragtag men and women of the MAGA movement stormed only the seat of power and corruption that is the State,’ is worth the price of admission.”

Uncle Ed

That was like a splash of cold water in my face. Thanks, I needed that.

cleoshep • 8 hours ago

 

This is perhaps the BEST column I’ve ever read in a long time.

The bolsheviks’ reaction to the riot at the capital It reminds me of a line from the musical “1776”,

“A rebellion is always legal in the first person, such as “our rebellion.” It is only in the third person – “their rebellion” – that it becomes illegal.”

*Image courtesy The Mirror

 

If The Libertarian Left Condemns Trump’s Immigration Record, It Must Be Quite Good

Democrats, Donald Trump, IMMIGRATION, Left-Liberalism And Progressivisim, libertarianism, Political Philosophy

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Who do you turn to for accurate, objective data on just how relatively effective President Trump’s immigration initiatives have been?

You turn to a source that is both quite credible and, at once, opposes Trump’s immigration policies with all its open-borders, ideological zeal.

That’s not the Left, for its data are seldom credible; it’s the libertarian-left, and in particular, a policy report from the CATO Institute, whose scholars are eagerly awaiting the  “Pro-Immigration Agenda [of] the Biden Administration”:

If the libertarian-left condemns Trump’s immigration record—it must have been quite good.

CATO predicts Biden will please them, because:

… At no time in American history has immigration been as legally restricted as it is currently. Trump has overseen a reduction in legal immigration greater than the declines during the two world wars, the Great Depression, or even after Congress ended America’s open immigration policy with Europe in the 1920s. President-elect Biden could do more to expand, improve, and deregulate the immigration system than any other president if for no other reason than that the system is largely shut down right now. …

… Before Trump closed the borders, the United States legally accepted more immigrants than any other country in absolute terms, but accounting for its size and economy, it ranked in the bottom third of wealthy countries for both its foreign-born share of the population and its annual per capita growth in the foreign-born population in 2019. Immigrants in Canada are about 21 percent of its population….

Less credible are the polls the CATOites cite to the effect that, “for the first time in [a certain] poll’s 55-year history, more Americans support increasing immigration than decreasing it.”

Really? At a time when Americans can be found congregating by necessity outside food banks, in lines stretching as far as the eye can see? Now, Americans badly want more competition over scarce resources?

Yes, say our CATO “scholars.”

MORE.

*Image credit.