Libertarianism: Not Ready For Primetime. Never Will Be.
Excellent takedown of libertaranism by tristero at hullabaloo, referencing that Salon piece that made Matt Welch cry last week. Also draws useful comparison between creationism and libertarianism:
One of the problems with taking the trouble to refute bad rightwing nonsense - intelligent design creationism, birtherism, libertarianism - is that it is a complete waste of time. Everyone, including most of the people propagating them, knows these ideas are ludicrous, Regarding intelligent design creationism, for example:
ID is not only dead, it was stillborn. No one believes in it; it is a sterile abstraction with no evidence that was cobbled up entirely to pass the church/state separation tests in the courts…
men
The Dover trial laid it bare. ID was simply the façade a troop of fervent Christian creationists used to conceal their true motivations.Libertarianism, especially in public political discourse, is the same thing, just one giant dog whistle for racism and other behavior whose covert purpose is to hoard and extend the privileges of the few at the expense of the many. Arguing over its non-existent merits as a political philosophy takes time away from thinking seriously about the unbelievably grave crises this country faces, crises precipitated and aggravated by the Bush administration’s far-right extremists, including libertarians. I’d rather argue about the existence of Bigfoot.
Joan Walsh is right that not all libertarians are racists, but many surely are, finding libertarian nonsense the perfect cover to cloak their racism in lofty-sounding “higher” moral/intellectual principles.
Read the whole thing, etc. I’d take issue with the hyperbolic claim that refuting such garbage as birtherism, creationism, etc is a ‘complete waste of time’— it’s essential that we call crap what it is — but anyone who has spent time ‘debating’ with a creationist or similar can surely appreciate the frustration, and the fact that such people are motivated by something beyond the reach of reason.