The House Of The Rising Libertarian

It's not a good time to be a libertarian. Sure, it seems like there's a bright golden haze in the meadow and everything's goin' your way but reality begs to differ, the ungrateful brat.


First and worst, Megan McArdle is your Queen. McArdle recently said that the government--meaning us--should subsidize Solvadi's profits when the free market freely balked at paying its price for a hepatitis C treatment. Why would a libertarian make such a corporate-friendly and individual-unfriendly suggestion? Why would anyone who has a twitter account under the name janegalt commit the ultimate Randian sin of suggesting a company take money from the government instead of succeeding through innate superiority? Dagny Taggart would have thrown herself over a desk and writhed in agony at such a suggestion.


The obvious answer is that McArdle, like most libertarians, is a conservative who considers herself above Republicans. McArdle has thoroughly and consistently presented herself as a public servant who is employed to share her knowledge and skills with the masses in the lower levels of the upper class. She dispenses her wisdom to both Republicans and Democrats and scolds them both for their refusal to follow her libertarian path. She is not one of them. Authoritarians are very hierarchical; either you are above or below them and they usually treat you accordingly. McArdle sees those above her as more moral, intelligent and hard working that those below. And she sees herself and her friends as above everyone else, whose lack of financial success is therefore due to a lack of superior qualities.


We know what libertarians believe but what do they do?

 76% of younger libertarians, along with 82% of older libertarians, reported voting for Mitt Romney in the 2012 presidential election. In addition, young libertarians overwhelmingly identified with the Republican Party and favored Republican House and Senate candidates by wide margins. Among libertarians under the age of 30, those who identified with or leaned toward the Republican Party outnumbered those who identified with or leaned toward the Democratic Party by 74% to 17%. Of these young libertarians, 75% reported voting for a Republican House candidate in 2012 and 81% reported voting for a Republican Senate candidate. 

... 

The libertarian philosophy of limited government holds very little appeal to nonwhite voters in general, and it holds even less appeal to younger nonwhite voters. Only 4% of nonwhite voters under the age of 30 were classified as libertarians compared with 23% of white voters under the age of 30. In contrast, 69% of younger nonwhite voters were classified as consistent or moderate liberals compared with 49% of younger white voters. These results suggest that the limited appeal of libertarian ideas to younger voters is likely to diminish further over time as the nonwhite share of this age group continues to grow.

 So most libertarians are people who voted for Romney (or people who actually thought it would be great idea to have Ron Paul as president). In other words, Republicans (and a few crazies).


Once again evil reality's facts and statistics have dragged down libertarians' attempts to achieve greatness by making shit up or creating "what if?" scenarios that depend on suspending the laws of physics, economics and psychology. Those imaginary libertarian scenarios can never fail them unless they are foolish enough to try to live them.