Let me just give it to you straight-out, libertarianism is the quintessential political expression of the same suburbanite urge to separate from our society's socio-economic troubles, born from its socio-economic disparities, that tends to produce "white flight". To really gnomically nutshell it right up front, the same middle-class, Me-Generation griping about affirmative action, multiculturalism, and the myth of "reverse racism" that can be heard around white-collar water coolers tightly focused into a phony, middle-brow free-marketarian philosophy = the modern right-wing political phenomenon of "libertarianism", and it's popularity predominantly among negrophobic and Hispanophobic folks of the Caucasian persuasion.
That is, "libertarianism" is the white-flight mentalité equipped with a political belief system. It's an irritatedly individualistic ideology for whiny white people who are disaffected from and would like to opt out of a welfare state that serves what they consider to be the parasitical dregs of society, i.e. mostly people of color living below the poverty line who because of limited opportunities find themselves entangled in our society's social safety net.
In other words, libertarians see the world from an everyone-should-just-look-out-for-#1 perspective with subtle racial overtones. Naturally they loathe the very idea of socialism, of being thrown together on equal terms with the needy non-white neighbors they wish to disown and distance themselves from. Socialism is about solidarity and what libertarians really want is isolationism from the economically challenged and "ethnic" underclass.
Libertarians aren't technically "racist" per se, they don't actually have hatred in their hearts for minorities, their hearts are too cold for that. They just lack any and all sense of connectedness with the underprivileged and the discriminated-against.
Libertarians certainly don't fancy being taxed one red cent to make a helping difference in the life of the stereotypical black welfare mom. Their mentality's motto is "Millions for prisons but not a penny for tribute to the poor masses of the economically distressed inner cities of the nation". And since African Americans and Hispanics are disproportionately represented among the recipients of public assistance, the libertarian's resentment against "free riders" becomes somewhat of a racial bias.
The libertarian's callous attitude toward those whom he perceives as society's leeches and losers rubs off on his attitude toward the victims of social and racial injustice, this is essentially how a racial tude is born from his worldview. It's the libertarian's selfish desire to not be bothered and burdened with the needs of capitalism's victims that leads to a lack of empathy and sympathy and a tendency to insensitively profile the poor that's tinged with classism and bigotry.
It turns out that libertarianism is largely just an intellectual construct that accommodates and rationalizes all of the above and allows the "libertarian" to put a principled spin on his version of political self-interest and identity politics. So, again, no, the libertarian doesn't quite have hate burning in his stony, selfish heart, he just doesn't have much love in it for anyone but himself and those with whom he identifies, which doesn't include poor black and brown folks.
Of course though, in some cases the libertarian's lack of affinity for the cash-poor and melanin-rich can become a palpable political animosity that really comes through in the stridency of his "politically-incorrect" stance, and that smacks of actual racism. But libertarians don't ever really let their racialist freak flag fly, they just become downright bold about ideologically dissing the disadvantaged dark-skinned demographic of society.
Well then, the libertarian's fondness for laissez–faire capitalism and his willingness to abolish social programs that feed poor children in the ghetto blurs together and it becomes a Which came first, the chicken or the egg question. Either way, libertarians definitely have their racial issues and need to fess up about this shameful truth of their psychology. Sure, behind a person's politics you always find psychology, none of us is truly all that objective, but sometimes it's an enlightened mind-set that shines through into one's politics, and other times it's a benighted mentality lurking in dark recesses of one's mind. Alas, in the case of libertarians it's sadly the latter.
Want some anecdotal evidence, have you ever noticed how many libertarians can get pretty cranky and conceited about the superiority of their logic when dealing with someone who disagrees with them? This is just another symptom that their philosophical point of view is that of an egoist with anti-egalitarian attitudes, someone who isn't interested in playing well with others on a level societal playing field. That is, libertarians are so deeply invested in and touchy about their politics that it becomes obvious that their politics are actually an extension of a certain chauvinistic type of personality and take on life.
A veritable misanthropic take on life that seems to single out and concentrate on categories of people that are an easy mark for it, such as women, immigrants, and certain races. The more intensely the libertarian spotlights such groups with his hostility, the thinner a veneer his ideology becomes for a subconscious racism.
But what would the libertarian's utopia look like, would it be such an inhospitable place for low-status groups to live in, would they be in a better position to raise their status in a libertarian promised land? Well, arguably the sort of free-for-all "meritocracy" that the libertarian advocates would soon degenerate into a plutocracy, those with a more ruthless drive to be on top would have a free hand with which to cut throats and would soon establish their social and political dominance over the rest of us. We'd find ourselves living under a feudalistic form of capitalism in which most of us are reduced to the role of white-collar vassals and blue-collar serfs. And since there'd be few if any legal protections against discrimination in such a system people who've historically been the victims of racism would continue to find things stacked against them and would end up being a sizable percentage of the serf class. Not exactly an inviting prospect for non-Caucasoids!
Libertarians like to retreat from this ugly reality into nice legal fictions of "social contracts", but would their kind of social contract, a social contract based on naked self-interest, even have an "equal protection clause" of any sort? And assuming it did, if libertarians abolished big brotherly courts in their free-marketeer's Shangri-la then who would enforce it? The free market itself? That's just ivory-tower theory that doesn't ever pan out empirically.
No, under libertarianism unchecked processes of social sedimentation would deposit most well-pigmented people in an underclass where they'd be at the mercy of Mighty Whitey and his capitalist ruling class more than ever. This prospect doesn't bother the libertarian too much though, both because he suffers from an empathy deficit and also because his social contract would provide him with an escape clause to be a selfish individualist with no social responsibility to the colored causalities of capitalism.
To sum up here, it's hardly surprising that many right-libertarians adored the angry white man's candidate Ron Paul (who in fact wrote racist newsletters in the 90s). At best the libertarian is insensitively indifferent to racial justice issues, at worst he sides with the opposition to racial justice on the grounds that freedom is an absolute that ought not be compromised to protect our civil rights. Ironically his love of freedom endangers those very rights that make freedom worth having! Yes, in a supremely ironic twist the libertarian turns out to be an anti-civil libertarian reactionary with a cold-bloodedly individualistic creed.
That is, "libertarianism" is the white-flight mentalité equipped with a political belief system. It's an irritatedly individualistic ideology for whiny white people who are disaffected from and would like to opt out of a welfare state that serves what they consider to be the parasitical dregs of society, i.e. mostly people of color living below the poverty line who because of limited opportunities find themselves entangled in our society's social safety net.
In other words, libertarians see the world from an everyone-should-just-look-out-for-#1 perspective with subtle racial overtones. Naturally they loathe the very idea of socialism, of being thrown together on equal terms with the needy non-white neighbors they wish to disown and distance themselves from. Socialism is about solidarity and what libertarians really want is isolationism from the economically challenged and "ethnic" underclass.
Libertarians aren't technically "racist" per se, they don't actually have hatred in their hearts for minorities, their hearts are too cold for that. They just lack any and all sense of connectedness with the underprivileged and the discriminated-against.
Libertarians certainly don't fancy being taxed one red cent to make a helping difference in the life of the stereotypical black welfare mom. Their mentality's motto is "Millions for prisons but not a penny for tribute to the poor masses of the economically distressed inner cities of the nation". And since African Americans and Hispanics are disproportionately represented among the recipients of public assistance, the libertarian's resentment against "free riders" becomes somewhat of a racial bias.
The libertarian's callous attitude toward those whom he perceives as society's leeches and losers rubs off on his attitude toward the victims of social and racial injustice, this is essentially how a racial tude is born from his worldview. It's the libertarian's selfish desire to not be bothered and burdened with the needs of capitalism's victims that leads to a lack of empathy and sympathy and a tendency to insensitively profile the poor that's tinged with classism and bigotry.
It turns out that libertarianism is largely just an intellectual construct that accommodates and rationalizes all of the above and allows the "libertarian" to put a principled spin on his version of political self-interest and identity politics. So, again, no, the libertarian doesn't quite have hate burning in his stony, selfish heart, he just doesn't have much love in it for anyone but himself and those with whom he identifies, which doesn't include poor black and brown folks.
Of course though, in some cases the libertarian's lack of affinity for the cash-poor and melanin-rich can become a palpable political animosity that really comes through in the stridency of his "politically-incorrect" stance, and that smacks of actual racism. But libertarians don't ever really let their racialist freak flag fly, they just become downright bold about ideologically dissing the disadvantaged dark-skinned demographic of society.
Well then, the libertarian's fondness for laissez–faire capitalism and his willingness to abolish social programs that feed poor children in the ghetto blurs together and it becomes a Which came first, the chicken or the egg question. Either way, libertarians definitely have their racial issues and need to fess up about this shameful truth of their psychology. Sure, behind a person's politics you always find psychology, none of us is truly all that objective, but sometimes it's an enlightened mind-set that shines through into one's politics, and other times it's a benighted mentality lurking in dark recesses of one's mind. Alas, in the case of libertarians it's sadly the latter.
Want some anecdotal evidence, have you ever noticed how many libertarians can get pretty cranky and conceited about the superiority of their logic when dealing with someone who disagrees with them? This is just another symptom that their philosophical point of view is that of an egoist with anti-egalitarian attitudes, someone who isn't interested in playing well with others on a level societal playing field. That is, libertarians are so deeply invested in and touchy about their politics that it becomes obvious that their politics are actually an extension of a certain chauvinistic type of personality and take on life.
A veritable misanthropic take on life that seems to single out and concentrate on categories of people that are an easy mark for it, such as women, immigrants, and certain races. The more intensely the libertarian spotlights such groups with his hostility, the thinner a veneer his ideology becomes for a subconscious racism.
But what would the libertarian's utopia look like, would it be such an inhospitable place for low-status groups to live in, would they be in a better position to raise their status in a libertarian promised land? Well, arguably the sort of free-for-all "meritocracy" that the libertarian advocates would soon degenerate into a plutocracy, those with a more ruthless drive to be on top would have a free hand with which to cut throats and would soon establish their social and political dominance over the rest of us. We'd find ourselves living under a feudalistic form of capitalism in which most of us are reduced to the role of white-collar vassals and blue-collar serfs. And since there'd be few if any legal protections against discrimination in such a system people who've historically been the victims of racism would continue to find things stacked against them and would end up being a sizable percentage of the serf class. Not exactly an inviting prospect for non-Caucasoids!
Libertarians like to retreat from this ugly reality into nice legal fictions of "social contracts", but would their kind of social contract, a social contract based on naked self-interest, even have an "equal protection clause" of any sort? And assuming it did, if libertarians abolished big brotherly courts in their free-marketeer's Shangri-la then who would enforce it? The free market itself? That's just ivory-tower theory that doesn't ever pan out empirically.
No, under libertarianism unchecked processes of social sedimentation would deposit most well-pigmented people in an underclass where they'd be at the mercy of Mighty Whitey and his capitalist ruling class more than ever. This prospect doesn't bother the libertarian too much though, both because he suffers from an empathy deficit and also because his social contract would provide him with an escape clause to be a selfish individualist with no social responsibility to the colored causalities of capitalism.
To sum up here, it's hardly surprising that many right-libertarians adored the angry white man's candidate Ron Paul (who in fact wrote racist newsletters in the 90s). At best the libertarian is insensitively indifferent to racial justice issues, at worst he sides with the opposition to racial justice on the grounds that freedom is an absolute that ought not be compromised to protect our civil rights. Ironically his love of freedom endangers those very rights that make freedom worth having! Yes, in a supremely ironic twist the libertarian turns out to be an anti-civil libertarian reactionary with a cold-bloodedly individualistic creed.