Why is there a crossover between classical liberalism (libertarianism) and the nationalist right?
I have been thinking about this a lot recently and it seems strange that a lot of the alt right or alt light people are former libertarians.
Paul Joseph Watson, Lauren Southern, Alex Jones, Richard Spencer, Milo...
The strange thing about this is that libertarianism and authoritarian Nationalism seem to be at opposite ends of the political spectrum in some senses. Well, the right wing political spectrum at least. One is protectionist, pro law etc... Whereas the other is about free markets, open borders and so on.
I think it's only confusing if you look at political ideology at face value because beneath the surface there are common threads between the two. Both are anti establishment, both are based on social Darwinism (economic or ethnic) and both are populated by white middle class dissidents. Rand Paul and Gary Johnson did sonewhat badly in 2016 so a lot jumped on the new populist bandwagon.
Another factor is that so many classical liberals are very friendly to alt rightish views. Dave Ruben has one of the biggest YouTube channels and invites on right wing people for friendly chats and justifies this on free speech grounds. Nonetheless, almost his entire platform is based on attacking the left and his Koch Brothers funding gives lie to his claim of being a centrist. Saargon on Akad is similar in that he will sometimes attack the alt right but 99% of what he does is to frame the left as a regressive menace. The issues raised are not about really about free speech because the alt right are allowed free speech, both legally and practically. It's about framing criticism as censure and claiming to represent a middle ground whilst giving an uncritical and priority platform to reactionary ideas.
I know I'm gonna get called out by #NotAllLibertarians and fair enough. A lot of these people stick to their principles and fair play. I think you guys are utterly wrong in your beliefs IMO but there you go. It is surprising though that elements of the individualistic right seem happy to go down this rabbit hole.
Paul Joseph Watson, Lauren Southern, Alex Jones, Richard Spencer, Milo...
The strange thing about this is that libertarianism and authoritarian Nationalism seem to be at opposite ends of the political spectrum in some senses. Well, the right wing political spectrum at least. One is protectionist, pro law etc... Whereas the other is about free markets, open borders and so on.
I think it's only confusing if you look at political ideology at face value because beneath the surface there are common threads between the two. Both are anti establishment, both are based on social Darwinism (economic or ethnic) and both are populated by white middle class dissidents. Rand Paul and Gary Johnson did sonewhat badly in 2016 so a lot jumped on the new populist bandwagon.
Another factor is that so many classical liberals are very friendly to alt rightish views. Dave Ruben has one of the biggest YouTube channels and invites on right wing people for friendly chats and justifies this on free speech grounds. Nonetheless, almost his entire platform is based on attacking the left and his Koch Brothers funding gives lie to his claim of being a centrist. Saargon on Akad is similar in that he will sometimes attack the alt right but 99% of what he does is to frame the left as a regressive menace. The issues raised are not about really about free speech because the alt right are allowed free speech, both legally and practically. It's about framing criticism as censure and claiming to represent a middle ground whilst giving an uncritical and priority platform to reactionary ideas.
I know I'm gonna get called out by #NotAllLibertarians and fair enough. A lot of these people stick to their principles and fair play. I think you guys are utterly wrong in your beliefs IMO but there you go. It is surprising though that elements of the individualistic right seem happy to go down this rabbit hole.
41-45, M
