Anti-Social Libertarianism

The true enemy of modern libertarians isn’t the state. It’s their neighbors

I got quite the response to my “Fuck You, I Got Mine” article. A lot of people on the Right really hate it when you defend property taxes. Many of the responses were ill-informed, with some believing it went solely to left-wing causes, illegal immigrants, Section 8 housing, orwelfare. Many held fantasies that roads, police, and fire departments naturally exist on their own. One person even claimed most roads were built years ago, so you no longer need taxes to support them. Some even began defending the federal income tax, claiming it can pay for all your local needs. Nearly all the critics were unaware that America has always had property taxes, yet they were all confident that it’s a newly-imposed tyranny.

Like Atlas, I shouldered this burden of idiocy for the greater good.

The debate inspired further thoughts, particularly about the state of libertarianism. Many of the responses, even when they came from self-professed fascists, deployed libertarian talking points in trying to refute me. The appeals to property ownership and other all-American values make sense. However, much of the sentiment behind not paying property taxes is the desire to forsake any kind of obligation to their neighbors. It’s natural to complain about paying taxes. Tax reform is a good cause. But, unlike with income taxes, we at least know where property taxes go. They support local services we benefit from everyday.

The article mentioned above discusses this more at length. The focus of this one is to highlight the primary fixation of modern libertarianism. Libertarianism has always been part of American political culture. Variations of it animated Thomas Jefferson, the anti-federalists, and the pre-New Deal Democratic Party. These small government advocates prioritized localism. Power would dwell in the communities and towns, not in the federal government. The community could enforce its will on those who dwelled within it. It could expel vagrants, troublemakers, and foreigners if it so pleased, while setting rules for its denizens to follow. One had to meet obligations and expectations to be part of this polis. Opposition to federal power was done in the service of this localist mindset. These old-time libertarians wanted to make their communities stronger by making the federal government weaker.

Modern libertarians are different. Their primary mission is to ensure their communities cannot impose any basic norms or standards upon them. They also don’t want to pay for any of the local services they use. They merely want the right to be disagreeable assholes who ensure their community sucks and advance the atomization that forces everyone to be dependent on the federal government. It’s anti-social libertarianism. It’s not challenging the federal government; it’s at war with the individual’s neighbors.

Irrational hostility to property taxes is an obvious example. Even when informed that it doesn’t go to supporting trans activism in Botswana, the anti-social libertarian will insist they shouldn’t pay for what it covers. They’ll demand they shouldn’t pay for schools, police, and parks because they claim they don’t use them. They don’t care about their benefit to the town. The individual’s priority matters above all else. Even things they clearly use, such as roads, they’ll insist it should be paid for by other means that don’t require a contribution from their own person. Their political philosophy is built on ensuring they make absolutely no sacrifices for any higher good. The individual shall not be infringed on, regardless if the community goes to hell.

The anti-social libertarian supports drug legalization, even though its prevalence lowers the quality of life in a community. Nobody wants to go to a park filled with dopesmokers or junkies throwing their needles everywhere. But that can end up as your reality with legalized drugs. The individual can pursue their own version of happiness however they please. It’s tyranny to tell them they can’t smoke a joint around kids. You should be allowed to do whatever you want.

Not surprisingly, libertarians are not fond of cops. A nice community needs police to keep it safe and deal with the riffraff. But libertarians would prefer a neutered police force or not one at all. They enthusiastically champion criminal justice reforms that handcuff cops and allow communities to be overrun by crime. Anti-social libertarians don’t care. They think the individual can deal with crime perfectly on their own, forgetting that atomization leaves no one looking out for the elderly and other vulnerable populations in the community. They also ignore that random individuals aren’t going to solve crimes on their own–for free, no less.

Libertarians generally don’t like to follow standard rules and conventions. Libertarian Party conventions look more like a Comic-Con than a serious political meeting. Many don’t even bother wearing suits, and all kinds of stupid haircuts, facial hair, and visible tattoos are present. These are people who primarily want to be weirdos. That’s going to annoy their neighbors the most, so they want to ensure their communities can’t stop them from being annoying. Any hint of imposed standards is an affront. They don’t want strong local communities. Strong communities can crack down on misfits and miscreants. So libertarians prefer undermining them in favor of the mythical, completely independent individual.

Of course, that individual isn’t independent at all. He’s just free of any obligations and standards.

The result of all this is the severance of ties with neighbors and their communities. People become even more dependent on impersonal authority, whether in the form of the federal government or powerful multinational corporations. Any semblance of localism dies off.

Localism, as a political ideology, isn’t the answer to our nation’s problems. But wanting to live in a nice, high-trust area is something to strive for. Libertarian prefer their right to be a disagreeable weirdo over the right to live in nice communities. They rebel against basic standards and rules to make those communities possible.

They pretend it’s a revolt against the man. But the man isn’t the federal government. It’s just the man living next door who doesn’t like the libertarian dressing like an autistic 12 year old, smoking weed on his backporch, and refusing to mow his lawn. It’s the perfect ideology for a middle-aged, spiritual teenager.

That’s why the cry of the modern libertarian is not “Come and Take It.” It’s “No, I Will Not Clean My Room!”