I'll critique libertarianism. Libertarianism is a doomed political ideology. It's a middle of the road, milquetoast ideology. Centrist ideals are and will always be doomed to lose because centrists aren't strong enough to stand by their morals like right wingers. They aren't crazy enough to make radical changes like leftists. In the face of two stronger ideologies, the centrists will always lose. Libertarianism will always fail to make big changes in society, because by nature, centrism and centrists by proxy cannot make changes in society. Libertarianism has existed before, just under other names, and all were doomed ideologies that fade into something else with a new name as time goes on. Worst of all, because of libertarian's centric nature, in times of crisis, libertarians will be forced to abandoned their principles and choose a side. Being a centrist is great until one side's shitty policies comes to your doorstep and destroys your livelihood. I used to be a diehard libertarian. Then Obama cut my paycheck in half. Twice. I will never be a centrist or libertarian again.
The reality is Centrism by nature is weak, it's always been weak, and the day will come when you'll be forced to pick a side. Libertarian policies and ideologies are great and nice thoughts to think about, but they're not congruent with the 40-90 years of life and politics you experience. Life will force you to abandon centrist viewpoints, often multiple times.
I don't know what kind of libertarianism you've been following, but it's certainly not the one people like me argue for.
Libertarianism is a radical and revolutionary philosophy. The fact that you can even compare it to centrism reflects a misunderstanding of its core values.
If libertarianism is "dude weed lmao" and the USA "Libertarian Party", then I'm afraid that's not what I'm advocating for
The failure you experienced under Obama was not a result of libertarianism being weak, it was the result of a system that doesn't respect individual rights or autonomy. The fact that you had to watch your paycheck get cut is exactly why libertarianism is necessary to push for a world where no one has a right to take what isn't theirs.
Saying that libertarianism will always "fade into something else" is to dismiss the ongoing human struggle for freedom and self-determination. Ideologies that embrace coercion and force may rise and fall, but the principles of liberty will always remain relevant. You say life will force you to abandon your principles - maybe, but that is precisely why holding onto these principles in times of adversity is what matters. A "stronger" ideology that relies on coercion isn't strength, it's a weakness of moral character.
It's not hard to follow your logic at all, it's just based on nonsense you make up out of thin air. That's the entire problem.
You don't have an innate right to life in this world.
You don't have an innate right to property in this world.
You don't have an innate right for any personal liberties in this world.
I don't care if people have had these fancy little ideas for millennia, it doesn't make them real or even valuable. This is nothing more than an appeal to consensus and tradition. Gee, what a rock solid "foundational basis of human rights and freedom" you got there. They had to form states to enforce these ideas because they are actually contradicting to the natural order of things since the beginning of time.
You can argue that you like these principles and ideas all day, but to act like they are fundamental laws of nature is DELUSIONAL.
You claim that these principles aren't "real or valuable", but the fact that they have been central to ethical thinking for thousands of years speaks to their relevance and truth. Just because something isn't convenient to the current order of things or doesn't align with your worldview doesn't make it any less valid. Human rights and personal liberties aren't based on the existence of a state, they're grounded in the idea that individuals are autonomous beings with the capacity for reason, and therefore deserve the right to live their own lives free from coercion.
Your dismissal of these ideas as "fabrications" ignores the reality of human autonomy. The state enforces coercion, not because rights are unnatural, but because the state thrives on violating those rights for its own power. If we followed your logic, we'd be resigned to a world where might makes right, where only those who can impose their will on others have any claim to what's theirs. This is exactly what libertarianism rejects: the notion that some people, by force or manipulation, have a right to violate others' rights.
These ideas aren't delusional, they're a challenge to the current order of things, an order built on the subjugation of the individual for the sake of the state, masqueraded as "the sake of the collective". The true delusion is believing that such a system is justified just because its iterations have been around for a long time.
In the bin. Libertarianism sounds nice when you're operating under the illusion that the world is full of people who are white, upper-middle-class Americans at heart. What we've realized over the past ten years is that before everything else, your society must be able to decide who's out and who's in, and who's out needs to be kept out by force, whether that means a well-policed border or a well-guarded prison. This requires a government that executes its role effectively. The left does everything it can to curtail government's proper role, and it has made everything worse.
Your argument is built on the premise that coercion and the use of aggressive force are necessary to maintain a functioning society.
Look at Hans-Hermann Hoppe's arguments here. The state, regardless of its form, has an inherent interest in increasing its power and infringing on personal freedoms. You claim that a government "effectively" executing its role is necessary, but what this really is is an excuse for the expansion of coercive power - an authority that decides who is "in" or "out", who can live where, and who gets to dictate the terms of society.
Your stance is essentially textbook authoritarianism, the acceptance of the delusion that people must be kept down by force for the "greater good". What these ideas always lead to is perpetual conflict and injustice.
People often forget it took millions of years of evolution for humans to evolve this far. They forget it took thousands of years to create the type of society we have today. It took hundreds of years for America to emerge as a bastion of law and order. It's not natural. Modern society is a glimmering beacon at a pinnacle of millions of years of blood, violence, and struggle against nature itself. Might makes right. Yet people still act like none of that ever happened because they don't experience it.
My parents were appalled that people were happy Luigi killed that CEO and people were rooting for it. I told them, young people see these CEOs as faggots who destroy their lives and futures. It doesn't matter if you think murder is wrong. The law of this world is and always has been: if you piss off enough people, eventually someone will kill you. This guy, pissed off thousands. They asked what this world was coming to that they root for murder, and I told them "What are you talking about? It's always been this way. The fact you think it wasn't, is delusional. This is just what people are like deep down".
Speaking of Hans-Hermann Hoppe, he published a book literally called
A Short History of Man: Progress and Decline, available
here for free, in which he examines the millenia of evolution. I recommend it.
Nevertheless, your argument is rooted in a tragic misunderstanding of human potential and the role of a society. The fact that violence and oppression have been a part of human history does not make them the natural or inevitable state of humanity. Quite the opposite, it's because of these violent and unjust systems that the principles of liberty and non-aggression are so essential.
If you accept "might makes right" as a foundation, you endorse a world where the strongest exploit the weak, where rights are dictated by power and not justice. This view denies the possibility of genuine moral progress.
Believing that society is inherently violent and oppressive (and must therefore remain so) does nothing but justify more violence. But a society based on voluntary exchanges and mutual respect is not a fantasy. Hell, the fact that we are discussing instead of beating each other up is literally proof of this.
I don't think it's necessary to convince you of anything when humanity isn't really on your side here. But one last thing, I think your understanding of slavery is very limited. People who live in North Korea and China certainly don't live in conditions that could be considered anything other than modern slavery. But ignoring that, even in capitalist societies the need to be a slave doesn't require physical restrictions. It happens in the form of money, drugs, public education and even media consolidation by particular actors. The reason why physical slavery is unnecessary is because society invented better ways of control to the point you are oblivious to it. That's also why you don't really get it, and that's fine. The world already solves the problem of solipsism by being harsh towards its believers.
You misunderstand the concept of slavery if you think it's merely about economic constraints or social system. At its core, slavery is about forced labor and the complete subjugation of one person to another. I agree with you that we still live in slavery - under the state. One form of very evident slavery, whipping negros, has been abolished. The next step is abolishing the hidden, indirect slavery of the state. If you refuse to "pay tax", eventually uniformed men show up and cage or kill you.
Libertarianism seeks to eliminate exploitation by advocating for systems where peaceful people are free from coercion, where force is only used in defense against aggression. If you think modern "slavery" is just about economic disparity or media consolidation (both problems exacerbated by the state!) you are misidentifying the source of this coercive power.
For your point on solipsism, it's not about ignoring harsh realities, but recognizing that peaceful individuals should have the right to determine their own lives without being forcibly controlled by the state or other people. That's the opposite of solipsism, it's a commitment to real human freedom.
Completely serious question, are we arguing about libertarianism like we have now, libertarian ideals, or things like Hoppeanism
If you ask me, I am talking about hard and uncompromising radical libertarianism. Whether you call that anarcho-capitalism, voluntaryism, Hoppeanism, be my guest.
Any self-proclaimed "libertarian" who is not against abolishing the state has failed to understand libertarianism. It's essentially as if someone claims to have learned math in school and will die on the hill that 2+2 equals 5.
One counter argument can be "oh but we can't abolish the state right away" or "but what about the people" or "it's never going to happen" should never ever change the fact that the state is illegitimate, unethical, and therefore impermissible by libertarian standards. As I have said in this thread already (or somewhere else, I don't keep track), it is perfectly possible to be a "pessimistic" anarchist.