… brothers in arms toward leftist destruction
by Shane Trejo [go to source original column here]
Lately, there has been a great deal of petty bickering going on between libertarians and members of the alt-right. This turf war is being waged primarily through social media, and much of the time, it is centered around disputes on contentious issues such as multiculturalism and open borders. Instead of arguing about the specifics of these nuanced issues and further dividing the two factions, libertarians and members of the alt-right should find common cause against on their extremely dangerous, increasingly deranged, and virulently statist enemies of the political left.
The Impact of the Alt-Right
At the current moment, the alt-right is emboldened by their perceived success. Whether true or not, they have given themselves credit for memeing Donald Trump into the White House. Based on the media coverage of their exploits, it is hard to disagree with this assessment. Hillary Clinton read Alex Jones’ conspiracy theories and ridiculous headlines penned by Milo Yiannopoulos at live events during the height of campaign season. Her campaign actually released an online resource depicting Pepe the Frog as a white supremacist threat. The alt-right is the left’s preferred boogeyman of the moment, a distinction that libertarians enjoyed at the height of the tea party era.
Sadly, many libertarians have reacted to the alt-right with much of the same admonition as the left. They have repeated talking points straight out of CNN, led by the once relevant Jack Hunter and other creatures of Washington D.C. swamp. These hacks are only concerned about protecting their bread and butter and refuse to see the bigger picture. At the very least, libertarians should be cackling feverishly at the Idiocracy-meets-the-Twilight-Zone new political normal that has resulted due to Trumpmania. Libertarians should appreciate the bizarre and ruinous impact that the alt-right is having on the body politic at large.
Libertarians Need to Regroup
Libertarians are well-understood to be tedious squabblers, and the pressure has really highlighted this unfortunate trait. It was an undeniably poor election cycle with Rand Paul putting forth an underwhelming effort, and Gary Johnson becoming a national joke. Rather than looking in the mirror and re-evaluating, libertarians would rather focus their ire on the alt-right out of jealousy. Many of those who now identify as alt-right were former libertarians who drifted toward a new cause after getting disaffected. This has only exacerbated tensions as these defectors are seen as “sell-outs” by pious libertarians.
Myopic libertarians have lost focus of what is truly important. The totalitarian leftist threat marches forward on a grand scale as they now openly pine for Orwellian censorship of the media and the overthrow of free and fair elections. Recognizing these facts, it seems very silly that libertarians are so enraged at the alt-right because they occasionally go a little overboard with their trolling escapades. Besides, the alt-right has emerged as a safe haven for libertarians. It has allowed libertarians to eek out some additional freedom and can have a cleansing effect on the liberty movement if it is properly embraced.
Remember that it wasn’t the alt-right that squandered all of the momentum that the liberty movement had built up during Ron Paul’s heroic Presidential campaigns in 2008 and 2012. It was the “leaders” of the liberty movement themselves who blew it big time. These figureheads thought that by conceding principle, they could open up a big tent. They thought that by pandering a little bit here and there, they should create a winning coalition. They drank the beltway kool aid and conformed to those values. They became more concerned about getting on the covers of magazines that haven’t been relevant in decades than with the concerns of the conservative and liberty-minded grassroots. These are the figures who deserve your full ire, and the alt-right should be celebrated as a necessary reaction against a failed brand of politics.
Meet Your Friend, Pepe
When Rand Paul swept his father under the rug on the campaign trail and attempted to “be his own man” by pandering to social justice warriors and minorities, Pepe was there. He never turned his back on you. Pepe gave you a pat on the back when you were down. He gave you a much-needed release valve when times got tough.
After Gary Johnson took Rand Paul’s pandering to the next level and squandered all of the credibility that Ron Paul had built up over the span of a generation, Pepe was there. He didn’t care if you offended SJWs, in fact, he happily lends himself to it whenever possible. Did you even go overboard and deploy a few extra parentheses in the midst of your frustration? Pepe didn’t care. He never judged you.
When Penn Jillette publicly supported Hillary Clinton, Pepe was fine with you sharing a photoshop of the libertine magician being tossed from a helicopter by Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet. After cucktarian extraordinaire Jeffrey Tucker wrote about being triggered by “terrorist” sidewalk chalk, Pepe didn’t care how brutal and tactless you were in deriding him. As long as you stay true to your culture and your people, Pepe will be by your side!
Establishing a Middle Ground
As much as the libertarian movement may be in shambles, the alt-right is far from perfect itself. The wide-open, leaderless nature of the movement has stopped the alt-right from being co-opted by charlatans to a certain degree, but conversely, it has allowed fringe ideologies to take root.
Richard Spencer of the National Policy Institute gained national infamy during a “Hail Trump” display that the mainstream media seized upon. Of course, it was incredibly overblown, but optics such as Spencer’s display are not going to help the alt-right. These types of episodes will turn off people who are in the middle and make them generally empathize with social justice causes. The untenable fantasy of a white-dominated nation gets in the way of the most important goal: crushing the political left.
Members of the alt-right shouldn’t publicly deride these fringe figures. When libertarians virtue-signaled incessantly to “prove” to the mainstream media that they weren’t racist, it sent the fanatics running for the door, which in turn helped to create the alt right. Be sure never to repeat those mistakes. However, alt-righters should organically gravitate toward controversial figures such as Gavin McInnes, Milo Yiannopoulos, Paul Joseph Watson, Steven Crowder, and Stefan Molyneux who are provocative, entertaining, bombastic, and expose the left with clever antics while not openly harboring any sort of racial agenda.
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Libertarians and freedom loving people let the left-led media define them. We shouldn’t. One campaign during the 1960’s featured Libertarian leaning groups handing out Thanksgiving Day fixings to families in need.
Along the same lines, It is time that we define leftists as Bismark, Lenin, Marx, Communist apologists. This also means attacking St. FDR. Many “progressives” think their “unquestionable values” originated with Jon Stewart.
This election, “deplorable as it was”, and the reactions afterwards have stripped the curtain away from the “loving Left” revealing their deep seated hatred for what they see as “common people”. I recognized this immediately when entering college but many accepted their roles upon graduation as leaders of the “unwashed”. Their degrees were a ticket to superiority.
To analyze the Trump “coalition” one must “get down” to understand what motivates real people, including the millions who were fed a bankrupt American dream. If Libertarians are to do any “leading”, it is by enabling others to do the best under the circumstances and inspiring others to regain our freedoms so individuals are not restrained personally, commercially or emotionally. The indoctrination by education, PBS, politicians and celebrities must be fought with truth and innovations that can better everyone’s lives.