Right-libertarianism

Right-libertarianism is a right-wing political ideology that stresses the importance of property rights and laissez-faire capitalism. In its most extreme form, the intent is to reduce the function of the state to merely upholding the rights of property. This may be done by upholding a limited central state apparatus, as in the case of minarchism, or by decentralizing it into the hands of private paramilitary forces, as with anarcho-capitalism.

Many of its adherents choose to identify as classical liberals, signalling that they believe their ideology to be the legitimate continuation of Enlightenment liberalism. The term "libertarian" was first adopted to refer to ideas related to economic liberalism in the 1950s and 60s. It ought not to be confused with the older left-wing libertarianism, first associated with 19th century French anarcho-communist thought.

The economic theories of the heterodox Austrian school are often cited in support right-libertarian ideas. Prominent figures in this tradition include Ludwig von Mises, Friedrich von Hayek, and the anarcho-capitalist Murray Rothbard. Philosophically, many right-libertarians rely on objectivism, a body of thought developed by controversial fiction author Ayn Rand.

Right-libertarians are largely contained to the United States and even then largely only within internet circles.

History

Internet presence

Libertarians are very common on the internet.

Positions

The Non-Aggression Principle and circular definitions

Libertarians are particularly tricky with circular definitions. Take the following argument for instance. "Infringement on private property is bad because it requires aggression." Why does it require aggression? "Because the Non-Aggression Principle defines aggression as infringement on property rights." This "Non-Aggression Principle" sounds as if it would be very good. You construct a society on the principle that you do not aggress upon each other. What could be more straightforward than that? Of course, it also includes the assumption of property rights, which is not as straightforward. In fact, private property requires a great deal of aggression for it to be maintained.

Anarcho-capitalists claim to wish to abolish the state, but also want to uphold private property. To a leftist, and indeed most political theorists, this seems like a blatant self-contradiction. In order to maintain consistent private property law you need some state apparatus to enforce it. They have no real case against this. At most they offer vague suggestions that they will be able to protect their property themselves, or more in a more advanced form, that they will be able to hire people to protect their property. In effect what is constructed is a decentralized state serving the interests of the wealthy. Even more so than left-wing anarchists, anarcho-capitalists prefer to define their way out of the state to actually theorizing a way out of it.

The reason right-libertarians get stuck into these modes of argumentation is that their reasoning is deeply undialectical. Like most right-wing ideologues, anarcho-capitalists prefer having a logically consistent understanding of the world over having one that makes sense. When arguing with them, you will find that they struggle to comprehend any meaning to words outside of their limited comprehension of them. Debate is often reduced to a pointless battle over the true meaning of liberty. This could of course be a worthwhile topic of discussion, but this battle does not resemble a discussion, since the libertarian refuses to comprehend any meaning to the terms outside of their own. Even worse, they refuse to even see the meaning they themselves ascribe to it.

Economic calculation and praxeology

Main article: Economic Calculation Problem

Libertarians love to declare that the "economic calculation problem" makes socialism impossible. There have been numerous attempts to make this argument work, some of them have actual substance to it. Most, however, depend on the Austrian School and its radically anti-empirical pseudoscience of praxeology. This starting point already involves a subtle slide of hand, which is another excellent example of the use of circular reasoning in libertarian ideology.

Praxeology begins with a single big assumption, usually called the Action Axiom, which states that "humans act," or that "human behavior is purposeful behavior." These claims seem harmless enough, and if you are not careful you might feel ready to accept them. This is only because these statements have been carefully manipulated as to hide what they actually say. A more accurate statement would be "the effects of people's choices are always rationally intended." In other words, individuals making choices by themselves do perfectly efficient calculations by definition. It should be no surprise that when socialists wish to counteract the effects capitalist markets, these are found to be counter to efficient calculation.

Such an axiom siphons off any blame for the failure of a social system onto the individual. Instead of markets receiving the blame they deserve for inaccurately reflecting the desires of their participants, these participants are blamed for being unable to force these markets to do so. It is their own fault for making improper choices! At the same time, it prevents any recourse the individual might have to improve their ability to make choices, since such improvements would constitute exactly a departure from the market system. It would require workers to organize into more effective planning bodies that help make decisions for them, and since the entirety of the effects of these decisions have to be calculated into them, such bodies would become indistinguishable from the planning bodies of a socialist economy. Except, of course, that they are more easily corrupted by those who have an interest in doing so, and this is what is vital to the right-wing libertarian's aims.

"Basic economics"

Many of the rhetorical tricks libertarians use are reminiscent of the 18th century philosophical school of optimism, which resolved the Christian problem of evil by proposing that our world is, in fact, the best world we can possibly have without running into logical contradiction. Of course, only God can see the whole picture, and is therefore aware of this fact. All us mortals can do is (1.) provide elaborate theological proofs of the greatness of God, and (2.) bring any unfortunate occurrence back to the ultimate good it causes. That is the primary operation of optimism, both in philosophical and ordinary use, to bring everything bad back to something good. To a believer, performing such operations brings us to a deeper understanding of what we already know to be the ultimate truth, that our world is the best there could ever be. It is rather a form of prayer than a form of argumentation.

This logical operation also takes an important place in libertarian ideology. For example, victims in a disaster area being charged exorbitant fees for a bottle of water is justified, because this will draw other entrepreneurs into the local water business and thereby lead to a bigger water supply. By pointing out such basic economic mechanisms, they are able to justify any course the capitalist market will take.

Here libertarians show their pride in the knowledge of "basic economics". Often when you disagree with a libertarian, they will point out the ways in which you've misunderstood the basic principles of supply and demand. The joke, of course, is that libertarians understand very little beyond basic economics. Most of them have very little grasp of the limitations of the abstractions they use.

Authoritarianism and the state

Anarcho-capitalists insist that their primary concern is the abolition of the state, ending its involvement in any and all economic activity.

Relation to socialism

Hot takes on Right-libertarianism From a Marxist understanding, right-wing libertarianism (particularly in its extremist forms such as anarcho-capitalism) may be understood as an example of the "reactionary socialism" Friedrich Engels mentioned in Principles of Communism. Whereas socialists understand the nature of capitalism and its inherent trend towards imperialism and stagnation, "reactionary socialists" instead merely view modern, industrial capitalism as the main issue, and therefore seek to "turn the clock backwards" on economic development. As Engels states in the aforementioned work:

"The first category [reactionary socialists] consists of adherents of a feudal and patriarchal society which has already been destroyed, and is still daily being destroyed, by big industry and world trade and their creation, bourgeois society. This category concludes, from the evils of existing society, that feudal and patriarchal society must be restored because it was free of such evils. In one way or another, all their proposals are directed to this end.

This category of reactionary socialists, for all their seeming partisanship and their scalding tears for the misery of the proletariat, is nevertheless energetically opposed by the communists for the following reasons:

(i) It strives for something which is entirely impossible.

(ii) It seeks to establish the rule of the aristocracy, the guildmasters, the small producers, and their retinue of absolute or feudal monarchs, officials, soldiers, and priests – a society which was, to be sure, free of the evils of present-day society but which brought it at least as many evils without even offering to the oppressed workers the prospect of liberation through a communist revolution.

(iii) As soon as the proletariat becomes revolutionary and communist, these reactionary socialists show their true colors by immediately making common cause with the bourgeoisie against the proletarians."

Therefore, libertarians, similar to other extreme-right groupings, fundamentally seek to "revert" capitalism to when it was relatively progressive during the late 18th and early 19th centuries, before production was socialized and capital was consolidated into the hands of the few. This is indicative of the false class consciousness libertarians possess (along with the fact that it is largely a petite-bourgeois movement). SociusVenger (talk) 00:39, 20 August 2023 (UTC)

See also

• Taxation is theft