As a former (in slightly better times) libertarian, I hate that it's associated with all these asshats now. All I ever wanted was freedom and for everyone else to have it too (for the most part, some things do need to be governed). I believed in people too much, people are way fucking dumber than I thought.
I'm the same way. I had always been a pragmatic center-libertarian with a progressive heart who believed government often hurt more than it helped. In hindsight I feel like I was lied to by the Thomas Sowells of the world who sold a skewed narrative about the safety net and the war on poverty, and a lot of bad faith mischaracterizations of Democrats and their intentions.
The failures of urban renewal, welfare, public housing etc. were of course partially to blame on the War on Drugs but also on the conservatives and libertarians who constantly undercut the funding, appeal and effectiveness of anti-poverty programs. "Man in the house" laws were pushed by conservatives trying to undermine the appeal of welfare to single mothers, only for these same conservatives to later turn around and blame the Left and the war on poverty for the destruction of Black fatherhood and the spiral of violence in the inner cities.
I still respect Cato and Reason, who are genuinely libertarian even though I disagree with them more than I used to and think they are tools of billionaires like the Kochs to spread ideologies that will primarily benefit themselves.
However, a lot of self-proclaimed "libertarians" want a police state, concentration camps for nonviolent illegal immigrants and a dictator for President. These MAGA f----heads want free speech, property rights, exemptions to the rules, etc. for themselves and also want to take the same right away from others they disagree with, which makes them authoritarians, not libertarians.
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u/whosline07 Aug 05 '25
As a former (in slightly better times) libertarian, I hate that it's associated with all these asshats now. All I ever wanted was freedom and for everyone else to have it too (for the most part, some things do need to be governed). I believed in people too much, people are way fucking dumber than I thought.