Don't be fooled: Liberals and libertarians don't agree
On the surface, hard-left liberals and hard-right libertarians may share certain positions. But these agreements are little more than word games.
On the surface, hard-left liberals and hard-right libertarians may share certain positions. But these agreements are little more than word games.
Many left-libertarians have wanted to redefine 鈥渃apitalism鈥� negatively for a while: basically to mean 鈥渃orporatism.鈥� 聽Now self-styled bleeding heart libertarians want to redefine 鈥渟ocial justice鈥� positively: basically to mean 鈥渃oncern for the poor.鈥�
Both seem like rhetorical ploys of the same feather: an attempt to sound appealing to non-libertarians who also happen to frown on 鈥渃apitalism鈥� and smile 聽on 鈥渟ocial justice鈥�. 聽Both sets of non-libertarians happen to broadly line up with 鈥渢he left鈥�.
It is as if to say, 鈥淵ou on the left hate capitalism? So do we libertarians! 聽You on the left love social justice? So do we libertarians! Therefore, you should consider being a libertarian!鈥�
The problem is, most non-libertarians who say they are against capitalism really mean they are against the free market, and not against only corporatism. 聽And most non-libertarians who say they are for social justice really mean they are for redistributionism, and not for narrowly 鈥渢he well-being of the poor.鈥�
So any 鈥渃amaraderie鈥� that can be effected by such bait-and-switch ploys can only ever be ephemeral 鈥渁greements鈥� based solely on terminological confusion. 聽You may get some head-nods at certain cocktail parties when you say you are against 鈥渃apitalism鈥� and for 鈥渟ocial justice鈥�. 聽But once it is clear that you have very unconventional meanings for those terms, it will be clear that there is no true agreement at all.
Let us libertarians focus on actual arguments, and leave the word tricks to those with weaker positions.