Leftists Have Nothing In Common With Libertarians. Stop Pretending They Do.

Before diving into why I believe libertarians have nothing in common with leftists, it is important that we first accurately define our terms. We’ll start with libertarianism. Libertarianism is a philosophy ground on the principles of self-ownership and non-aggression. From this, property rights can be derived, and libertarianism seeks to protect self-ownership and private property. Libertarians believe the only just exchanges are voluntary ones.

Leftism, on the other hand, is a philosophy that aims to do the opposite. Leftism seeks to destroy private property, and eradicate the principle of self-ownership. The philosophy is premised around the idea of an egalitarian collective. But since no two individuals are exactly alike, achieving egalitarianism requires the eradication of property and the use of coercive force. It seeks the eradication of social classes, and desires equal outcomes. Leftists believe individuals must be coerced into providing services and associating with others for the common good of society.

So as we can see, the two philosophies are polar opposites. Leftism is to libertarianism as fire is to water. You can never burn a fire underwater, and you can never have a voluntary coercive exchange. It is a performative contradiction, and the two philosophies have zero overlap.

Let’s take this discussion a step forward. Libertarians will generally agree with this premise, yet say that we can work with leftists on single issues. But what issues do we have in common with them? What single issue do they want the government to stay out of?

Some will say pot legalization. But leftists want to legalize pot for the purpose of giving the state more tax revenue and regulatory power. Some will say gay marriage. But leftists want this to be state sanctioned, and are getting eerily close to wanting to force Churches to wed gays. Some will say police reform. But leftists want increased federal oversight, and still require a massive police state to enforce their egalitarian ideas. Some will say ending the warfare state. But I haven’t seen an anti-war Democrat since 2008, and they just voted for the biggest neocon in the 2016 race.

These are really the only four issues I can think of, and even in these instances, there is little to no overlap with leftists. Their goal is to expand the state as much as possible, while libertarians want to minimize it as much as possible. To say there is any overlap there is a blatant lie.

Libertarians are to leftists as mice are to snakes. Snakes wish to eat mice, and leftists seek to destroy private property boundaries and everything we believe in. To suggest that we have anything in common with them is to say a thief is similar to honest businessman.

Now this isn’t to say that leftists can’t become libertarians. Anything is possible, of course. But our philosophies are so far detached, and leftists are all too often unwilling to engage in a rational political discussion, making it largely a waste of time to try converting them into libertarians. Leftists spend 12+ years in Marxist indoctrination centers, and continue to be influenced by the media’s rampant manipulation and social engineering. Questioning your preconceptions is hard enough. But to accept that literally everything about your worldview is incorrect is even more difficult.

It’s time for libertarians to face this harsh reality and understand that the left has nothing in common with us. If you can’t logically deduce this, then it is likely because you are scared of admitting that you might be wrong. And if you are scared of admitting that you might be wrong, then that is only further proof for why the left is a terrible target market for libertarianism; they would rather cling to their dangerous ideas than admit that everything they believe might be wrong.

It’s time to stop pretending that we have anything in common with people that have no understanding of economics and would jump at the opportunity to steal half of our income, force us to fund their welfare and birth control, force us to fund their healthcare, force us to fund their college educations, force us to give up our guns, force businesses to raise their minimum wages, force us to practice our religion only in the confines of our homes, force us to get vaccinated, force us to give them safe spaces, force us to give up our cars, force oil companies to close their refineries, force us to use solar and wind power, force us to give up any surplus of resources, force us to associate with people against our will, force us to provide services against our will, force us to barter in only Federal Reserve notes, force us to break windows to create jobs, force us to eradicate property lines, force us to give dues to the United Nations, force us to be part of an involuntary collective, force us to shut up if they don’t like what we have to say, and force us to give them a platform for this dangerous ideology.