Adam Bates asks:
"Soliciting opinions: why do you think so many anti-immigrant, anti-Muslim, anti-LGBT, anti-foreign, anti-black people identify as libertarians?
What's the incentive for them? It's not like we have any political power. So what is the motivation for them claiming a philosophy that explicitly rejects their views?
If you believe in "blood and soil," or that "the cause of the South is the cause of us all," or that LGBT people should be stoned to death, or that "closed borders and open borders are equally libertarian," what is the *point* of calling yourself a libertarian? What is it in furtherance of?
This question, to me, holds the key of solving this problem. If we're going to stop associating with these people, we need to understand why they started claiming our name in the first place."
My answer:
Why do some libertarians support Palestinian apartheid? Why do some think that black protesters should be able to override store owner's property rights? Why do some libertarians support anti-abortion laws?
People can be broadly libertarian, while also retaining some non-libertarian beliefs. Or believe that other considerations (preserving a Jewish homeland, reversing racial discrimination, protecting infant life) override their support for liberty.
In the case of nativist libertarians, I think they believe that some races and cultures are prone to statist beliefs, and that if those people were allowed to freely move to the US, they would overwhelm the US culture and political system.
They think that support for liberty in the US--such as it is--is weak and delicate, and that it could be easily destroyed by millions of poor, uneducated statists moving in and voting for the same terrible policies they supported in their country of origin.
For example, most Muslim-majority countries are quite hostile to gay rights, women's rights, freedom of speech, etc. What would happen to US laws if millions of Muslims with such backwards beliefs moved to the US, and started voting their preferences here?
Therefore, the nativists think it's better to maintain a pocket of liberty in the US, even if it means restricting the liberties of would-be immigrants.
"Soliciting opinions: why do you think so many anti-immigrant, anti-Muslim, anti-LGBT, anti-foreign, anti-black people identify as libertarians?
What's the incentive for them? It's not like we have any political power. So what is the motivation for them claiming a philosophy that explicitly rejects their views?
If you believe in "blood and soil," or that "the cause of the South is the cause of us all," or that LGBT people should be stoned to death, or that "closed borders and open borders are equally libertarian," what is the *point* of calling yourself a libertarian? What is it in furtherance of?
This question, to me, holds the key of solving this problem. If we're going to stop associating with these people, we need to understand why they started claiming our name in the first place."
My answer:
Why do some libertarians support Palestinian apartheid? Why do some think that black protesters should be able to override store owner's property rights? Why do some libertarians support anti-abortion laws?
People can be broadly libertarian, while also retaining some non-libertarian beliefs. Or believe that other considerations (preserving a Jewish homeland, reversing racial discrimination, protecting infant life) override their support for liberty.
In the case of nativist libertarians, I think they believe that some races and cultures are prone to statist beliefs, and that if those people were allowed to freely move to the US, they would overwhelm the US culture and political system.
They think that support for liberty in the US--such as it is--is weak and delicate, and that it could be easily destroyed by millions of poor, uneducated statists moving in and voting for the same terrible policies they supported in their country of origin.
For example, most Muslim-majority countries are quite hostile to gay rights, women's rights, freedom of speech, etc. What would happen to US laws if millions of Muslims with such backwards beliefs moved to the US, and started voting their preferences here?
Therefore, the nativists think it's better to maintain a pocket of liberty in the US, even if it means restricting the liberties of would-be immigrants.