The Libertarian Statist

Since the Tea Parties have been in full swing I have found myself distancing myself from other so-called “libertarians.” It seems that the GOP lite has taken the term and ran with it. I already had issues with the Objectivists in some areas but that is to be expected considering their matriarch detested the anarchist strand that I proudly embrace. The one area I find myself still in agreement with few libertarians would be some Austrian concepts of economic realities. The modern American libertarian has become a defender of the state reading their constitutions as religious text. I recently had a conversation with an individual who considered themselves “libertarian” the whole while telling me that Jesus wrote the constitution. (seriously) This person believed the constitution was inspired by God.

Statism seems to be infused with a vile blasphemous conservative devotion to the state by some cult like worship of culture and the preservation of their traditions of the laws of men. The so-called libertarians I am running into lately have embraced war, migrant-control, anti-abortion and a plethora of other state powers. I am failing to see how this is any opposition to government.

I went to a local Tea Party when I first heard of it. I thought that an anti-tax protest sounded wonderful. Just like the anti-war protests of the Bush years I thought that maybe the people were truly fed up with the state. All I found there were anti-democrats. I heard speakers condoning war and preaching against migrants. I was appalled at just how much government these people were embracing. It was held at a state memorial to war, Kansas City’s WWI memorial. This seemed to be a badge of pride almost as if they wanted to say with nationalist pride “look at the great wars we had won.” They worshiped at the idol that was built to memorialize mass murder by the state. I stood there wondering how many Egyptians once gathered under their god king Ramses feet rallying the slaughter of their neighboring countries.

Conservative talk show hosts spoke of the mighty GOP and their rise. This was nothing but angry conservatives mad at the other side of the state. As if the pro-war sentiment wasn’t enough I got an interesting insight of why some people were there from an old man. As people began to clear out I walked up to their little “Boston Harbor” which looked more like a plastic bath-tub filled with burst tea bags. It looked unsanitary. An old man was standing there and decided I needed to hear how mad he was. Was he mad about taxes? No. Was he mad about the massive spending on murder in the middle east? No. The old man just sat there and complained about “those damn Mexicans.”  I heard all about how they “need to go back home.”" I also got to hear how this was apparently some southern rednecks’ country and not the country of the “damn Mexicans.” I wanted to oppose taxation. I didn’t want to condone taxes to take the liberty of migrants, kill Muslims or oppress others.

This was my realization that the Tea Party was not a libertarian movement at all but simply angry Republicans. Then there was talk about the son of Ron Paul. They called him libertarian. I got excited. I began to look at him and was quickly disappointed. Here he was going on about “A strong national defense.” The guy was also embracing winning wars and blocking migration. What? Who’s liberty are these people concerned about? It was appalling. More and more so-called libertarians were coming out of the woodwork and it seemed all of them were nothing but GOP lite.

These libertarians began to preach to me about “the rule of law” and tell me that “we are a nation of laws.” What libertarianism is this they are following? It sure as hell isn’t Rothbard who would unashamedly oppose all government. Maybe it was Ronald Reagan. Some of the rhetoric was starting to sound like Joe McCarthy a little also. I heard a self-proclaimed libertarian tell me Joe McCarthy was a “great American.” What the hell was going on? Why even use the word libertarian if you are only going to defend the GOP party platform with it?

I began to question if I was even a libertarian anymore. If libertarian was this conservative nationalist movement then no I am not a libertarian. I will embrace the word I often attempted to not use, “anarchist.” The few I do agree with seemed to be focusing on just an anti-welfare concept. I detest this stance. As I said before I do not condone any government whatsoever, but if I did believe in government it would be one that took care of the needy and not the government that shoots us in the face. It seems that they are willing to stick with and even condone militarized police aggressively preying on the citizens as well as the massive slaughter around the world in order to end welfare. The logic here escapes me. If the coercive force of the state is abolished all welfare and other programs become voluntary thus ending any opposition one should have against it. These conservative libertarians still stand for the very power that enables the state.

Am I a libertarian? At times I would say yes. I base my philosophy on the libertarian non-aggression axiom. This is something many modern libertarians tend to never mention. They just talk about their constitutions, the law of the land they seem to embrace. What really makes that funny is that it is only used when it suits them. Even Ron Paul the great constitutional defender has spoken out against birthright citizenship. So apparently this constitution is not the all to end all they would like us to think, but simply a defense in arguments to defend the government providing the type of society they want to condone.

My belief tends to be one of mutualism for it seems that in a true free market one can not restrict voluntary communal interactions and syndicates. This leaves me jaded at the anti-socialist and anti-communist rhetoric of the right. At the same time I tend to be jaded by the anti-capitalist rhetoric of the left. There seems to be a completely polarized perspective which wishes to choose one over the other. I however am content with a pro-choice perspective on everything across the board that does not infringe on the libertarian non-aggression axiom. The initiation of force is what I oppose not how people wish to structure their economic models as long as it is non-coercively.

Oh, Uh-Merika you have complete devotion to that mass murder the state you so reverently worship. Oh you modern libertarians are nothing more than state apologists. How can you enter into an argument in defense of the government so often? That is what I keep running into. I will begin speaking to the so-called libertarians and they will defend government. If you have a habit of defending the state you may want to examine your views and perspective. The state has enough schools and guns to defend itself it does not need you.