When you post memes on social media, you never know which ones are destined to go viral. I’ve posted a meme to Twitter, left the house for a couple of hours, and come home to discover that it’s been retweeted hundreds to thousands of times. I’m not bragging, just showing that even I don’t know why some memes go viral. For instance, I posted the meme below at 6:12 AM, CST on Saturday the 17th and within a few hours it had been retweeted over 200 times and “Liked” almost 2,000.
The question is, why? As someone who, just a couple years ago, was guilty of what this meme alleges, I believe I am the perfect person to offer insight into why. I did not wish for the destruction of western civilization consciously, but I believe wholeheartedly that my beliefs at the time would have contributed to its destruction. What am I getting at here?
There is a strain of libertarianism - commonly called “thin libertarianism” - that is very vocal on social media that believes that if any action taken does not violate the non-aggression principle (NAP) it is perfectly fine. Two examples would be mutually consensual exchange of money for sex, or someone drinking excessively or taking as many drugs as they want (I could use child grooming here and drag queen story hour, but I need to take a break from thinking about that). This most likely seems perfectly reasonable to someone who values the NAP as no violence is being committed.
Let me use the example of prostitution. If the transaction is in fact carried out by two adults who are not being coerced into the act on either end, then it would appear to be perfectly acceptable. Especially when it comes to the NAP. Let’s go a little further. Most libertarians believe that prostitution should not be illegal under the preceding conditions. Let’s imagine your town adopts this policy. Now let’s consider the current environment of inflation, etc. In the Weimar Republic things became so bad that male and female prostitutes openly roamed the streets. What do you think was the impact to the culture of seeing male and female prostitutes on every street corner (and in Weimar’s case, child prostitutes, but we’ll ignore that because child prostitution is a NAP violation). If people hadn’t organized to bring Germany out of its economic hardships, it is reasonable to believe Germany would’ve devolved into Calcutta-type conditions. If the streets of your hometown were suddenly flooded with prostitutes, or even if they were working completely online and not in the streets, what do you think would happen to the culture of your town?
The point I’m making here is that there are many activities that are voluntary which do not violate the precious non-aggression principle but will lead to the destruction of culture and society. I am sure some of you have already thought of one or two I haven’t mentioned, and your minds are racing. A stable culture that creates order is fragile when people engage in activities that have historically led to chaos. It should be clear that not all voluntary activities are beneficial to order.
Destroying civilizations or sitting by and watching it happen is anything but peaceful. Watching the death cultists devour children like jackals is anything but peaceful. They want us to be passive, to live and let live, to say “I just want to be left alone” so that they can more easily carry out their plans. The forces of civilizations destruction live libertarianism.
“Libertarian” is a meaningless term, and listening to POTP ep 907 was sadly hilarious. Dave Smith’s rant on why “Alex Jones was wrong” was a solid sales pitch for why the LP should be a lobbyist group inside the GOP. The MAGA movement has already adopted those widely relevant points like: end the fed, end the wars, close the bases, end the lockdowns, end corporate welfare, etc. rendering the “super ultra new and improved Ron Paul 2.0” LP irrelevant before they even got started. Which of these two groups could be said to be taking on the state rn? Anyway... libertarians are lefties who reject the logos and absolute truth, ie libertines. More people unmoored from truth are the last thing this polity needs. You’ve said it before Pete, the godless, atheist-centric nature of the LP is a key feature, not an anomaly. Do as thou wilt, and then rationalize how it doesn’t affect others. That’s not a philosophy for life, or politics. That’s how you destroy a culture.