"Libertarians" In The World

As I've stated before, I call myself libertarian, though to be more specific, I'm an anarcho-capitalist. I believe in non-intervention foreign policy, sound currency, and property rights. I hold the Republican and Democrat parties in complete disdain, and I've been an ardent supporter of Ron Paul since he ran for President in 2008.

But not all libertarians are like me. I wanted to share a recent run in I had online with some of these other "libertarians."


I was reading the through the John Glaser article linked on Lew Rockwell's Political Theatre blog, and got curious when I came across a poster who went by the name Eric Dondero. He made a comment about Gary Johnson's foreign policy position being the closest to the "real" libertarian philosophy position.

I couldn't help but laugh at it. The amount of ignorance in that statement astounded me. But, I was also intrigued as to what kind of person called himself a libertarian and would actually believe this drivel. So I clicked on Dondero's name in the comment, which sent to what is apparently a blog site he edits: LibertarianRepublican.net

If you follow the link, it becomes rather apparent what kind of "libertarians" these people are. They are the same "libertarians" who came out in full force for Bush in '04, McCain in '08, and now Romney in '12. No matter the policies, the Republican must defeat the Democrat in the General Election.

But, ignoring my better judgment, I forged ahead (first big mistake), determined to see if there was at least some good these people were doing. I came across a post titled "MSN: Romney "lashed to... Ryan, Ayn Rand libertarian". The fact that MSN makes the assertion that Paul Ryan, and Mitt Romney by extension, is an Objectivist is ludicrous (and that a professional writer doesn't know the difference between "lashed" and "latched" is sad). But Dondero's little tidbit at the end was what caused me to meander into the comments section (second big mistake).

His quote word for word:

Editor's note - Ironically, while the liberal media ties Romney to capitalism, and even "Ayn Rand libertarianism" many libertarians don't accept him as even libertarian-leaning.

The first commenter also mentioned Romney's "individualist and libertarian leaning positions." I almost fell out of my chair laughing. Romney "individualist and libertarian leaning?" Are these people serious? Sadly, I found out how serious, and vile, these people are.

Dondero went on in the comments about Ron Paul, and by extension the anarcho-capitalists such as those at Mises (and myself), are left-libertarians because we follow the non-aggression principle. Someone called him out by asserting he was basing this on one issue: foreign policy. Dondero did not deny this, saying that "Islamism is the single most important issue of our lifetimes. 9/11 changed our lives forever. You're either pro-Islamist or you're pro-American. There's no middle ground. This is World War III."

Annoying? Yes. Laughable? Most certainly. Angering? Not really. In fact, even though most of these comments bothered me on a philosophical level because they were misrepresenting the libertarian philosophy, I wasn't finding myself angry.

Until they started to attack personally. The worst offender went by the name Chuck. He resorted to name calling, cursing regularly, and plain belittling. It was this that caused me to write a comment:

So many of you are doing a horrible injustice to the libertarian name.

Romney is neither individualist nor libertarian-leaning.

His largest donors come from Wall Street, who own major stock in the Federal Reserve Bank of New York (and how they go, the Fed goes). There is nothing capitalist (the economics of libertarians) about the Federal Reserve. They manipulate the currency and interest rates to favor them while making the general public poorer.

He is a constant supporter of the greatest humanitarian problem in US history (worse than slavery), the War on Drugs. To support the War on Drugs is to not only spit in the face of self-ownership (the pillar of libertarian philosophy), but to support a policy that has given rise to the violent street gangs in the impoverished urban neighborhoods, as well as the horrid Mexican cartels.

Also, let us not forget his centralized, state run healthcare plan in Massachusetts, which was the basis for Obama's reforms.

So, no, there is absolutely nothing libertarian about Romney.

Secondly, Eric, you have absolutely zero idea what you are saying when you assert that Rockwell, Raimondo, Rothbard, or any of the other anarcho-capitalists are "left-libertarians." Left-libertarians despise capitalism and private property, especially "commercially owned" private property and the means of production. Those are the pillars of the anarcho-capitalist philosophy. Also, left-libertarians are LESS likely to use the non-aggression principle than right-libertarians.

Lastly, the assertion that "Islamism" (whatever that is) is the greatest threat to American freedoms is beyond laughable. The US has installed or supported no less than 5 despot dictators over the course of the last 60 years in the Middle East. We've supported Israel's apartheid, property right's violating actions concerning Palestine. It's despicable. I'd be pissed, too, if I were them.

And to think groups like al-Qaeda or a country like Iran is more of threat than the bank cartel that is literally stealing our wealth through inflation or the federal government that is imprisoning people for exercising their self-ownership rights while also destroying the impoverished neighborhoods is the epitome of delusional and absurd.

And you are suggesting we vote for a man who will be the epitome of a wealth stealing, property rights violating despot?

And you say you are a libertarian?

We have met the enemy, and it us.

The comments I got in return were astounding. I'm going to post them, but I want to warn you, they are quite graphic:

From Chuck:

Speak for yourself, weasel. The Communist incumbent appreciates your devoted support.

From Dondero himself:

It's laughable that you call yourself a libertarian, when you're a leftist piece of shit.

Get the fuck out of our libertarian movement, and don't you dare use our libertarian name ever again, asshole.

Fuck you, and have a nice day.

Eric - The Management 

Also Dondero:

Lighten up Chuck. "Jake" is one of these guys that takes it up the ass from the Islamists. 

He bends over, grabs the ankles and yells "Allahu-Ahkbar."

The worst I had written was calling the assertion that "Islamism" was a bigger threat to our freedom than the wealth stealing Federal Reserve or the human rights violating War on Drugs the epitome of delusional and absurdity.

Those comments may have been the worst I have ever received from anyone. I've debated Marxist, Keynesians, and full bore war mongering statists who were more polite than these people saying they were "libertarians."

It's disheartening.