How Libertarianism Has Led the USA Down the Road toward Fascism

At the heart of libertarianism is the belief that individuals don’t owe anything to the civilization or the society in which they were born and raised, and that the libertarian must give their consent for any action taken by anyone else or it is a violation of their individual rights.

In short, a libertarian truly does believe the same things as a 2 year old child — or a feral kitten.

(I don’t say this to insult 2 year olds or feral kittens. Or anyone else. I say this to let libertarians know why they are often seen as childish. I was actively involved in the libertarian movement for many years myself — see below on that. What attracted me to it was the radical simplicity of it. That allows it to offer some insights that no other philosophy offers. However, as with all things radically simple, it ignores or denies the complexity that is real life and can be easily twisted by those with their own agenda into simply being radical, which leads to mean-spirited self-righteousness among those who follow it. In my view and the view of many others, this is what has happened with the pro-freedom message of libertarianism — it’s been used to divide and conquer We the People, while turning over control of our government to a small portion of the monied elite.)

This core belief of libertarians is why you hear them. claiming that taxation is theft (rather than the price one pays for the infrastructure and other services that only government can provide), that government is a nothing but a gang of thieves (rather than the representatives of We the People), and so forth.

These beliefs would not matter so much if it were not for the fact that the Koch Brothers and others in the monied elite have been promoting them for decades through the Libertarian Party, Cato Institute and a host of other libertarian groups; have used them to take over and subvert conservatism and conservative groups; and doubled-down on them by launching the Tea Party to undermine the Republican Party from without while their lobbyists corrupted it from within.

Conservatives used to know that without civilized society there was nothing to conserve. Now libertarians and their fellow travelers have turned conservatism into a form of reactionary arrogant egotism.

All of which means we have a government that can’t confirm Presidential appointments, fund needed infrastructure repairs and improvements, enforce the laws already on the books, or otherwise make even token advances in the many areas that only government can tackle.

Meanwhile, the Democratic Party (which is supposed to be the opposition for the Republican Party) is also corrupted by money (much of it from the same sources as the GOP, despite the rhetoric) and too busy playing politically correct games to show any party discipline or principles worth fighting for.

It has become clear that Ayn Rand may have been a Russian agent, sent here to fulfill the prophecy of Karl Marx that capitalism would kill itself.

The kicker is how thoroughly fascist the outcome has been, with all of the major elements of the usual definitions for that evil form of society already in place and becoming more obvious almost daily.

The Non-Aggression Pact between Germany and Russia from early in World War Two would have seen communism wedded to fascism. Later events led to that pact being voided. It seems that events here are heading toward that nightmare union being consummated in the USA rather than in Europe.

And that is how libertarianism, which stands for individualism, is leading the USA down the road toward fascism.

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For those who don’t know my background and on what basis I make these statements, please take note.

I hold a Bachelor of Arts Degree in philosophy and political science, so I have college-level education in these areas.

For the real-life experience & learning, I was active in the Libertarian Party for a decade, including serving on the Executive Committee in Alabama and Tennessee, running for statewide office in Alabama and serving as state chairman in Tennessee. That latter position came about because I ran a libertarian supper club here in Memphis for several years.

I’ve met Ed Clark personally.  (Ed was the only LP nominee for President to get on all 50 state ballots — and he did it with millions from David Koch, his running mate. Yes, THAT David Koch).

Also, I worked collecting signatures on ballot access petitions in MD and MI the year Ed Clark ran, so I saw how the Libertarian Party was perceived on the street.

In other words, I know libertarian philosophy from inside and out.

I used to be a Libertarian and it took me a long time to realize why that philosophy was wrong. I’m not about to argue with those who still subscribe to that philosophy.

My bottom line on this is that you simply can’t give all the power to 400 families (the top of the monied elite) and call the results freedom.

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For those who don’t see the connections between a philosophy of selfishness and the growth of fascism in the USA and other countries, this article explains those connections in more detail:   http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/12/clinical-psychologist-explains-how-ayn-rand-helped-turn-the-us-into-a-selfish-and-greedy-nation/