Libertarianism

I tend to view libertarians as the "good people" who are Tories or Republicans. They are not good because their analysis falls short, but it is somewhat short-sighted of some on the left (not genuine left) to describe all Trump supporters as deplorables.

I liked Hillary's tactic of calling Trump supporters as deplorables. In my view it was an attempt to shame the "good people" who were voting for Trump. But the tactic back-fired. There is a similar tactic in the UK for Brexit-Leave voters as all being racists, and this is also a nonsense - unless you get into a deep analysis of racism including nationalism etc.

I don't think the working-class people who are enraged, and people from the middle-class background I grew up in, are deplorable; they might well have voted for Trump or Leave. They are however short-sighted. And for many of them the doctrine of libertarianism in some form is their intellectual byword.

This blog was sparked by these two articles (1 and 2) I picked up from the Occupy newsletter. The articles are comprehensive ie long.

I liked the connection in the article between capitalism and totalitarianism, and it is the basic lack of freedom in capitalism that I find so frustrating with those who support libertarianism. I am a strong advocate of the human spirit so often find myself saying similar to those who are anti the pc-police and the gender-police. Censorship is horrific in any form, it is a restriction of freedom and creativity, it is a restriction of the human spirit. So when dangerous people like Jordan Peterson are complaining about the Liberals who restrict in this way I am sympathetic.

But he like many in the alt-right and amongst libertarians contrast this liberal censorship with the free market, and this is disastrous. The free market simply enables the bully-boys, the accumulators of transnational corporate power, and they are far greater infringers of liberty, far greater restrictors of human spirit. As is stated in the articles corporate structure is totalitarian, you are not free to speak. The power and influence of the accumulators restrict human spirit in so many ways simply because they coerce people into supporting measures which promote profits before people. The only freedom that libertarians enable is the egoic freedom that enables individuals to make greater profits at the expense of other people.

I would love to see an end to regulations which promote market mechanisms and free trade, that is not happening; the very use of the term free trade is a euphemism for market regulation. Instead we have an end to regulations which have protected the planet in order to enable increased resource-exploitation by the accumulators. There are social regulations protecting the rights of individuals which are also being ended so that wage-slavery can increasingly exploit. In the UK there is a continual attack on the need for a minimum wage, just how selfish is that. Some of British business promoted Leave because they felt they could exploit the wage-slaves further (eg minimum wage and other austerities) because of their control of government. And all of these regulation issues have been done in the name of libertarianism. In practise all these changes have increased restrictions on humans whilst enabling greater accumulation, increased the coercive power of the 1%.

The articles and their references give detailed explanations concerning the ways in which capitalism is totalitarian but they will not be read nor will there be an attempt by these freedom-loving libertarians" to investigate the claims because for them the freedom is an emotive issue. And that issue is an egoic issue. Their egos say capitalism and the free market is free, socialism is restrictive. This is emotional, their egos want a free market - that is enough. The biggest insult to these people is to claim that they are subject to conditioning. We are all subject to conditioning but these freedom-loving egotists are being played.

Socialists attacking the 1% get very little investment but libertarian slush funds exist across the dark money network. The 1% know that promoting the deregulation that is libertarian will increase profits. We had a crash in 2008 because banks were deregulated. Now we want further deregulation so long as it is not the market mechanisms that are attacked.

The dangerous Jordan Peterson is a clinical psychologist whose 12 Rules are sound, but it is non-academic social pronouncements that the alt-right likes - pronouncements not based on his academic study, social pronouncements that he criticises the left for when they do not have their "house in order"; in Jordan's case he is not a sociologist, social historian nor in any way is his academic experience based on anything other than individual problems. These alt-right pronouncements elevate the egoic freedom of "capitalism" without in any way examining the coercive effects of corporate power nor the totalitarian restrictions placed on corporate workers. This can be seen on the increased restrictions placed on whistleblowers both within government and the private sector. Why does a member of the private sector have such restrictions placed on them?

Capitalism is coercive, it is amazing how blind libertarians are to this. Except their selective blindness is totally understandable, the dark money network invests.