How ridiculous it is for Matt Lewis of The Daily Beast to write, “It seems observably true that libertarianism is disproportionately a gateway drug to the alt-right.”
To say the libertarian movement is a “gateway drug” is to say more than that some prominent members of the alt-right once called themselves libertarians. It’s also to say that alt-rightism provides a purer form of what those members had found in libertarianism (aka original liberalism, or simply liberalism).
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It is oppression and injustice that leads to the alt-right. Libertarians are merely more aware that reduction of freedom of association and restrictions on private property IS oppression and injustice. The alt in the term simply meant (originally) that they know the most of the Republican party isn't going to do anything about it.
ReplyDeleteBesides, I think most of the Charlottsville crew are more likely just Democrats who are developing white identity politics. The libertarians among them are merely more remarkable than the rest of that herd.
But it comes down to an oppressed people fed up with the current system, willing to risk a lot to win.