How to Deal with Alt-Right Infiltrators to Libertarianism
In this post we’ll try to look at ways libertarians can thwart attempts by alt-Right bigots to divert libertarianism and how to protect the libertarian “brand” from further contamination. But first, a reminder of the goals of classical liberalism or libertarians as the great Ludwig Mises put it:
“The ultimate ideal envisioned by liberalism is the perfect cooperation of all mankind, taking place peacefully and without friction. Liberal thinking always has the whole of humanity in view and not just parts. It does not stop at limited groups; it does not end at the border of the village, of the province, of the nation, or of the continent. Its thinking is cosmopolitan and ecumenical: it takes in all men and the whole world. Liberalism is, in this sense, humanism; and the liberal, a citizen of the world, a cosmopolite.”
How to Address Alt-Right Random “Libertarians”
Many of the alt-Right trolls who pop up on the Internet are not members of the Libertarian Party or associated with any groups. There are often loners sitting in their basement room of their parent’s house hammering away at the Internet spewing hate and blaming everyone else for their life being a sad mess. Most are single men. If women don’t want to date them, it’s the fault of feminism. If people find them obnoxious, it’s the fault of “political correctness.” Like Trump who so many worship they can’t look in the mirror and see what the rest of the world finds so obvious.
Much of the alt-Right is built around finding someone to blame for situations feeble minds don’t understand, or for choices they made, but for which they don’t want to take responsibility.
Their goal is to offend, attack, insult, demean or, in essence, to make others as miserable as themselves. The first rule is “don’t feed the trolls.” They thrive on attention. It’s not worth the time or effort to try to reason with them. On your social media pages, ban them from your site or pages anytime one of them pops their head up—it’s sometimes a constant game of Whack-a-Troll.
If you are on Facebook then use the Block function liberally. Also seriously look at setting up alternative pages on MeWe as well. Don’t let Facebook be used by these trolls to block your pages or get you banned. These people use social media to find other sad saps similar tothemselves and recruit them to their hate crusade. The fewer pages they appear on, the fewer recruits they obtain. Banning them entirely means they won’t see your posts and you won’t see theirs. It also means all the readers of your page won’t see their posts. The harder it is for them to find others as needy as themselves, the better it is for all of us.
Remember, if you are a libertarian and you let these trolls appear on your page, not only are you helping them recruit others to their hate crusade, but you are contributing to the belief libertarianism is somehow open to this sort of rot.
I heard one hateful conservative from an anti-gay hate group give a lecture to conservatives on using the Internet. Her entire argument was by appearing in many outlets one individual can make their “movement” appear much larger than it is. This was what Charlottesville was all about. They urged bigots from around the country to fly to Charlottesville for this one march. The purpose was to blow themselves up in public perception — to make everyone think they are a bigger movement than they are.
A few hundred showed up for what amounted to a national rally with the hate groups pulling out all the stops to attract as many as possible. That should be seen as a failure, not a success. They will always claim they are larger than they actually are. The less you cooperate with them, by letting them comment on your pages, the better.
Don’t get taken in by their whining about free speech. Speech is like sex, they may have the right to it, but you don’t have to jump in bed with them. Their right to speech is not a claim on your microphone. You don’t have to provide them with anything. Your only obligation is to not use force to deny them the use of their property or the property of others, which they are being allowed to use.
If you host a page where comments are allowed take responsibility and moderate those comments — remove the trolls or they will give your page a bad name. If you are unwilling or unable to moderate comments, don’t allow comments from anyone.
If people try to “friend” you on social media sites see who they are before you say yes. Look at their “likes” and the books they appreciate. What groups do they support? If you see lots of alt-Right figures or “libertarian” outfits that are tolerant of bigotry, be cautious. The alt-Right trolls want to use your page, but they can’t if you deny them permission.
Additionally don’t allow your pages to be used as a forum for the defense of trolls. It’s one thing keeping the obvious trolls out, but often they take another form and appear merely as defenders of the “free speech rights” of blatant racists. Their speech rights extend to their page only, not to yours.
If you know good people who still allow this garbage on their page ask them to stop. If they don’t wish to do so, and it’s their right, avoid their pages. The reason you should avoid them is that, on Facebook at least, your reading of those pages may make posts from those pages visible to your readers. It’s a roundabout way the bigots can reach your friends, even if you’re trying to stop them. Refuse to be a useful idiot for hate.
Make your opposition to alt-Right bigotry open and obvious. Emphasize you wish to have nothing to do with bigots or their fellow travellers. Silence is cowardly in the face of the risks we face if intolerance grows. A lot of people who stayed silent in the face of hate in the past, have come to regret it.
Alt-Rights in the Libertarian Party
The LP is often restricted by state regulation as to what it can do. They can’t stop bigots from registering as Libertarians and they may not be able to stop them from running for office.
The best option when these bigots show up is for the party organization to vocally condemn them and distance the party from the bigots. Add unequivocal anti-bigotry statements to your local platform.
I personally think the national LP should expel bigots from the party. If a state LP is controlled by such people it should be ejected from the national body. Bigots should not be allowed as delegates. They are like cancer cells that will kill the host that allows them to flourish.
I would urge the Libertarian Party to consider, in light of local regulations, what options they have to remove alt-Right haters from any position of influence, better yet to remove them from the party entirely.
Ground Zero for Alt-Right “Libertarianism.”
The center of the alt-Right problem within libertarianism has been the Mises Institute and the handful of so-called “scholars” associated with them. They are pretty much alone in that effort. But they do spend a few million a year distorting the ideas of Mises. They are the ones who made common ground with extreme bigots such as the League of the South.
Obviously you should not donate anything to these groups. Don’t attend their conferences; don’t even give them ad revenue clicks by visiting their sites. Even good articles devoid of bigotry are problematic if they attract people to the whole site.
Let’s assume a brilliant essay on the problems of economic calculation appears. You share it and someone is taken with it and visits the original site. There they are introduced, in numerous places, to people like Hans-Hermann Hoppe — who is happy to introduce them to neo-Nazi types such as Junge Freiheit. He’ll preach the evils of non-white immigrants. Or they read the speech by the president of the Mises Institute telling them libertarians need to embrace the “blood and soil” message — a speech that was given days before the Klan, Neo-Nazis and such marched through Charlottesville chanting “blood and soil” along with “Jews will not replace us” and “Fuck you faggots.”
It’s not even a game of six degrees of separation when it comes to the Auburn circle. Both the Mises page and Rockwell’s page have published the screeds of notorious bigots. For instance, one particularly vicious racist was Samuel Francis. He is quoted, referenced or fondly mentioned over 500 times by the Mises Institute. A reader coming across those references will find Frances wrote very hate-filled pieces about African-Americans for openly racist sites.
Or consider how the Institute gave Gary North the “Murray N. Rothbard Medal of Freedom.” North is an extreme theocrat who thinks gay people, and a host of other sinners, should be publicly stoned to death. North has written multiple books and essays pushing the death penalty for gays, blasphemers and worshippers of any god other than his own. He wrote:
“God’s mandated method of execution — public stoning by the witnesses whose words condemned the criminal — is regarded as perverse even by those few Christians who still defend the legitimacy of the death penalty. They do not believe that God requires the trial’s hostile witnesses to cast the first stones. But He does: “The hands of the witnesses shall be first upon him to put him to death, and afterward the hands of all the people. So thou shalt put the evil away from among you.”
The Mises Institute people think him the kind of man who deserves a “Medal of Freedom.” North is a business partner with Ron Paul and a former staff member for Paul. In fact, Rockwell was a Paul staff member as well. And Mises Institute president, “Blood and soil” Jeff Deist was his chief of staff at one time.
Outside the Mises Institute and its immediate affiliates, there is NO organization of any substance within the libertarian movement that snuggles up with Nazis, racists and bigots. Don’t promote or recommend any of the incestuous circle around Auburn in any way. Ignore them. Don’t have them speak at conferences, don’t interview them, don’t be interviewed by them. Avoid their blogs, their YouTube page, etc.
A final word
When former Marine Roger Huffstetler learned two friends were gay, he went to them wondering if he had ever done anything to make them uncomfortable or afraid. They said he hadn’t. But Huffstetler noted he never spoke out in defense of them either. He said, “Silence can be a powerful consent.”
Ayn Rand warned, in 1972 that it you want to see change, speak out. She said you shouldn’t give the status quo “your silent sanction.” When she was asked what individuals should do, she said “Do not keep silent when your own ideas and values are being attacked.” Don’t give bigots a silent sanction.
