Unmasking the “Libertarians”

“You’re all a bunch of Socialists” -Ludwig von Mises

I have paused many times in the last few years to question why Ludwig von Mises shouted “You’re all a bunch of Socialists ” to a room filled with libertarian-leaning men. I no longer have to question why Mises said that so many years ago. The last 6 months have shown me.

It would seem that libertarians have forgotten the most basic principle of libertarianism - the freedom over one's physical person- To think, act, and live as you see fit. As Ron Paul said:

“Freedom over one’s physical person is the most basic freedom of all, and people in a free society should be sovereign over their own bodies. When we give government the power to make medical decisions for us, we in essence accept that the state owns our bodies.”

Alas, it would seem like some libertarians are okay with forcing others to wear masks, to lock down the economy, to give up “a little freedom so things will go back to ‘normal’” … Newsflash, we haven’t been “normal” for a long time and giving up a “little freedom” for a “little safety” won’t get us back to normal.

Have we so quickly forgotten the lessons of 9/11? We now have the TSA, Patriot Act, and surveillance state ad nauseam. But now you see libertarians bending over and kissing the ass of the state once again.

‘It’s just 14 days…stay home”

“It’s just a lockdown…deal with it”

“It’s just a mask … wear it”

“It’s just eye goggles …put them on”

“It’s just a shot…take it”

“it’s just papers…carry them”

“It’s just a box car…get in it”

It’s a slippery slope that so many who came before us tried to warn us to avoid. When one sees the “freedom fighters” giving up one doesn’t have to wonder how Hitler rose to power anymore. But one does question if the “freedom fighters” valued freedom to begin with. “Shall we call subjection to such a leader cowardice? . . .” Étienne de La Boétie askes. He continues “[I]f a hundred, if a thousand endure the caprice of a single man, should we not rather say that they lack not the courage but the desire to rise against him, and that such an attitude indicates indifference rather than cowardice? When not a hundred, not a thousand men, but a hundred provinces, a thousand cities, a million men, refuse to assail a single man from whom the kindest treatment received is the infliction of serfdom and slavery, what shall we call that? Is it cowardice? . . . [W]hen a thousand, a million men, a thousand cities, fail to protect themselves against the domination of one man, this cannot be called cowardly, for cowardice does not sink to such a depth. . . . What monstrous vice, then, is this which does not even deserve to be called cowardice, a vice for which no term can be found vile enough.”

We have forgotten our ancestors who came before us and died for the freedoms we are handing over today. The State planned it that way and are removing history right before our eyes and libertarians are falling for it under the guise of “If it saves one life” whilst conveniently ignoring the countless suicides and deaths from not getting proper medical care, widespread evictions, businesses closing, and livelihoods destroyed. It is beyond cowardice and it is vile.

Charlie Chaplin once said in The Great Dictator:

“In the 17th Chapter of St Luke it is written: “the Kingdom of God is within man” — not one man nor a group of men, but in all men!
In you!
You, the people have the power — the power to create machines
The power to create happiness!
You, the people, have the power to make this life free and beautiful.”

You have the power. Not the tyrants, not the dictators. It’s about time libertarians remembered that. As Étienne de La Boétie put it so well “Resolve to serve no more, and you are at once freed. I do not ask that you place hands upon the tyrant to topple him over, but simply that you support him no longer; then you will behold him, like a great Colossus whose pedestal has been pulled away, fall of his own weight and break into pieces.”