AUGUST 21, 2021 – I used to joke that in “Libertaria,” traffic lights would be privately owned, coin-operated, and voluntary. I’m no longer joking. Our biggest single threat is unfettered freedom to do whatever it takes to make a buck—and whatever purveyors of falsehoods, religious beliefs, or conspiracy theories order us (ironically) to do.
What’s confounding is the authoritarianism that dances with libertarianism; the pro-military, pro-strongman, pro-law-and-order streaks that followers of You-Know-Who embrace. The guy flying a “Don’t Tread on Me!” flag off the back of his pick-up is just as likely to be flying a “You-Know-Who for Strongman 2024” flag.
Equally perplexing: people who advocate “limited government” and want to bomb the Taliban into oblivion—after 20 years of evidence that 200 years of history can’t be deleted no matter how hard “big government” tries with a +$700-billion/year military.
There was a time when I myself was a libertarian infatuated with Ayn Rand. I fell for the notion that through wholly unregulated, voluntary exchanges directed by self-interest, nirvana would ensue. With like-minded people, I’d clink my monogrammed champagne glass filled with the elixir of unfettered free enterprise.
As I experienced the “real world,” however, and observed how individuals think and behave in multifarious contexts, I became less enamored of libertarianism. The more I read of Ayn Rand, the more I perceived her as a pseudo-intellectual crackpot.
Moreover, as I re-examined our nation’s profile, from the Founding to the fall of Reconstruction; to the Gilded Age; to the Climate Crisis; to the draw of You-Know-Who; and most directly, to our chaotic response to Covid-19, I found overwhelming evidence that the libertarian mind-set—on the ascendancy for years but with origins in our early history—threatens our existence.
Meanwhile, contradictions color libertarianism. Yesterday I listened to interviews of attendees at the Iowa State Fair. One gentleman, from central casting for an imaginary reality TV show named, “Gator Swamp,” was asked whether he was vaccinated (“No”) or planned to be vaccinated (“Hell no!”). For him it was all about individual freedom—to deny science. When the interviewer asked if he wore a (mandatory) seatbelt—the guy said, “Of course!” (as he waved his cigarette butt). I guessed at how he’d answer the question, “Do you stop for [government installed] red lights?” (Or more better yet: “Do you favor dedicating more resources to public education?”)
Another gentleman, dressed more for church, also said he wasn’t vaccinated—and wouldn’t be, unless the science . . . “the right science [. . .] came out saying it was okay.” I wanted the interviewer to ask, “Do you think the ‘right science’ is behind Florida Governor’s push for Regeneron—the drug manufactured by a major DeSantis campaign contributor?” Instead, the man argued that government had no business telling him what he could do with his body. The interviewer didn’t follow-up with the strike-out pitch: “So, what’s your position on a government ban of abortions?”
Meanwhile, bigger issues loom, such as . . . 40 million Americans going thirsty. I wonder what Ayn Rand would’ve said about that. (“Clink!”)
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© 2021 by Eric Nilsson
