'Modal' Libertarians

[Bono]

Murray Rothbard showed great disdain for people he called "Modal libertarians".

Here is he's description of them:

ML is indeed a he;...The ML was in his twenties twenty years ago, and is now in his forties. That is neither as banal, or as benign as it sounds, because it means that the movement has not really grown in twenty years;...The ML is fairly bright, and fairly well steeped in libertarian theory. But he knows nothing and cares less about history, culture, the context of reality or world affairs. His only reading or cultural knowledge is science fiction,...The ML does not, unfortunately hate the State because he sees it as the unique social instrument of organzed aggression against person and property. Instead, the ML is an adolescent rebel against everyone around him: first, against his parents, second against his family, third against his neighbors, and finally against society itself. He is especially opposed to institutions of social and cultural authority: in particular against the bourgeoisie from whom he stemmed, against bourgeois norms and conventions, and against such institutions of social authority as churches. To the ML, then, the State is not a unique problem; it is only the most visible and odious of many hated bourgeois institutions: hence the zest with which the ML sports the button, "Question Authority." ...And hence, too the fanatical hostility of the ML toward Christianity. I used to think that this militant atheism was merely a function of the Randianism out of which most modern libertarians emerged two decades ago. But atheism is not the key, for let someone in a libertarian gathering announce that he or she is a witch or a worshiper of crystal-power of some other New Age hokum, and that person will be treated with great tolerance and respect. It is only Christians that are subject to abuse, and clearly the reason for the difference in treatement has nothing to do with atheism. But it has everything to do with rejecting and spurning bougeois American culture; and any kind of kooky cultural cause will be encouraged in order to tweak the noses of the hated bourgeoisie...In point of fac, the original attraction of the ML to Randianism was part and parcel of his adolescent rebellion: what better way to reaiontalize and systematize rejection of one's parents, family, and neighbors than to join a cult which denounces religion and which turmpets the absolute superiority of yourself and your cult leaders, as contrasted to the robotic "second-handers" who supposedly people the bourgeois world? A cult, furthermore, which calls upon you to spurn your parents, family, and bourgeois associates, and to cultivate the alleged greatness of your own individual ego (suitably guided, of course, by Randian leadership)...the ML, if he has a real world occupation, such as accountant or lawyer is generally a lawyer without a practice, and accountant without a job. The ML's modal occupation is computer programmer;...Computers appeal indeed to the ML's scientific and theoretical bent; but they also appeal to his aggravated nomadism, to his need not to have a regular payroll or regular abode...The ML also has the thousand-mile stare of the fanatic. He is apt to buttonhole you at the first opportunity and go on at great length about his own particular "great discovery" about his mighty manuscript which is crying out for publication if only it hadn't been suppressed by The Powers That Be...But above all, the ML is a moocher, a bunco artist, and often an outright crook. His basic attitude toward other libertarians is "Your house is my house." ...in short, whether they articulate this "philosophy" or not, [MLs] are libertarian-communists: anyone with property is automatically expected to "share" it with the other members of his extended libertarian "family."

This description fits at least one member of this forum.. :roll:

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[Bono]

Bump for fun.

[Bono]

His depiction of Libertarians doesn't seem to fit. With regard to religion, Libertarian philosophy is live and let live. I am a Christian so I am most assuredly not anti-Christian.
 
I've never heard of a Libertarian communist before. That seems like a contradiction in terms. Most Libertarians are opposed to socialism and communism, and are avid supporters of capitalism.

I posted this as a reference to a cetain poster. I bumped it because it became even more relevant now.

[Bono]

Rothbard did not regard all Libertarians this way. I did a little digging on this and found the following which helps to explain "Modal Libertarians";

Self-Explanatory?
by Karen De Coster

Libertarian guru Murray Rothbard called them "modal libertarians." They are an assemblage of leftover Marxists, 60s-70s drug users, cultural leftists, assorted members of the Arts-and-Croissant crowd, and Christian-hating atheists. They latch onto the libertarian name because, somehow, they think "libertarian" means "do-whatever-the-heck-you-want" in the name of freedom.

Full article at http://www.lewrockwell.com/decoster/decoster59.html

I'm not sure you realize, but I am an ideological libertarian. I just prefer not to support that exercise of political onanism tht is the libertarian party. No offense.

But anyways, this was never aimed to you.