"My personal Libertarian hell: how I enraged the movement and paid the price"

[pnwmom]

http://www.salon.com/2015/03/30/my_personal_libertarian_hell_how_i_enraged_the_movement_and_paid_the_price/

The most dangerous thing you can do on the Internet is to send your banking information to a mysterious Nigerian prince. The second most dangerous thing you can do is to write even the most tepid criticism of libertarians. I recently wrote piece about my trip to Honduras and how conditions in that country reminded me of a “Libertarian Utopia.” I was inspired not only by the trip but also from reading many articles that have outlined a failing libertarian experiment in that country, here and here, for instance. I focused on just this one small factor when, of course, I also realize that the problems of Central America are historical, entrenched and, above all, complicated. From the reaction online you would have thought I personally kicked Austrian economist Friedrich Hayek square in his wrinkled, decomposed sack.

Reaction was swift and personal, including widely circulated factoids that I’m both fat and bald (guilty on both counts). Some called for my utter, personal ruin. Fair enough. But there were comments that went too far, such as those that addressed my parenting skills or that examined my decade-old divorce. I was unprepared for the fire hose of rage and invective. In fact, it’s hard to overstate just how furious—and proud of it—this segment of America seems. I could provide links, but I’d rather not send them traffic. If you are compelled to see for yourself, feel free to take a refreshing dip into the libertarian cesspool, but try not to get any in your mouth.

SNIP

I often write about libertarianism from my own personal journey through it. The biggest criticism I’ve heard while writing various pieces is that I was “never really a libertarian.” I was a Ron Paul delegate in Nevada and wrote about it for the Reno Gazette Journal (see above), and I supported other libertarian candidates and policies for years. The overuse of the “no true Scotsman fallacy” raises the question of what level of commitment is required to be considered a libertarian. Must I be branded or tattooed? Does it require ritualistic testicular shaving (nod to Dr. Evil)? Libertarians demand a level of unexamined commitment unmatched by any institution except perhaps church, which makes sense because the movement is less about what is good for society and is more a series of articles in an indefensible faith.

Although not all libertarians hate, a sizable number make the movement look both angry and unstable. They rage against the smallest loss of unearned privilege in society, while screaming about a “meritocracy.” Those who get ahead in our country do so more often from connections, family money and privilege than from any innate goodness or intelligence, and libertarians gloss over all questions of class, race and privilege in the hope of a return to a pure market ideal that has never existed. The history of America is an unending fight between untamed market forces and human beings, and when the free market gets out of hand, real people suffer, as so many did in the Great Recession of 2008.

SNIP

[daleanime]

1. I'm sure it's almost as bad.....

as talking about gun violence for generating responses.

[CTyankee]

3. talk about liberterian hell...we got one right here on DU...

[Tarheel_Dem]

4. +1. You don't ever want to after Libertarians or Scientologists. Talk about "hell". n/t

[Number23]

5. Ain't THAT the damn truth

liberterian hell...we got one right here on DU...

[Cirque du So-What]

2. Vicious bastards

As aggressive as a rabid badger with a stick up its ass and twice as tenacious.

[hifiguy]

6. The vast majority of "libertarians" are either those of a perpetually adolescent mindset

fixated on superhero power trips who thing "Atlas Shrugged" should be a blueprint for society or rich repuke greedheads who want to smoke weed legally. ETA - the ammosexuals also fit in here someplace.

That covers about 90% of the libertarians.

[DonCoquixote]

7. the 24 types of libertarian

http://www.ritholtz.com/blog/2010/07/24-types-of-libertarians/