Musings on Another Reason.TV vid

The president of the libertarian club at my campus was interviewed by Reason.TV, and a few revealing points were raised.



For one thing, Michelle points out that young Republicans tend to be more receptive to libertarianism than Democrats. Part of this might be that we're at a Christian campus, but I don't think the Christian orientation of our campus has everything to do with it. From what I've seen in undergrad at a public school, libertarianism appealed mostly to conservative young people. Part of it might have been Ron Paul. And that definitely had a role in it, since I never called myself a libertarian until after I was already a Ron Paul fan. And I was drawn to sites like LRC and Antiwar.com through my involvement in the Ron Paul campaign.

Besides Ron Paul, I think the very nature of mainstream libertarianism today is set up to attract conservatives. Mainstream libertarian views on economics are - how shall I put it - unoffensive. There might be another side to this coin. Self-styled progressives militantly reject the idea that voluntary economic interaction produces economic stability and equity. Libertarianism as a movement has failed to attract American leftists because it has failed to tie economic freedom with opportunity and sustainability. There are so many catch-phrases on the left that libertarians seem oblivious too. There's environmental racism. There's food justice. There's water waste. Libertarianism misses these low-hanging fruits. All these things can be addressed with libertarian ideas, and mainstream libertarians express more outrage about San Francisco banning happy meals than they do about the Federal government subsidizing corn and meat.

Michelle was asked about social aesthetics among young libertarians, and she basically answered that we're all a bunch of nerds who spend more time reading online articles than watching tv - which is probably true. Michelle's interviewer pointed out that libertarians of his generation were punks when they were younger. Michelle didn't mention any particular subculture that most libertarians today are coming from or are drawn to, and I think that's true - we're not punks, we're not into hip hop, we're not much of anything. This might be good in a way. We can't be put into a box the way anarchist socialists can be put into the crust punk box. But there might be downsides to this too. We don't have any rousing songs. And if you think Aimee Allen's song was the kind of thing that can get people to raise clenched fists, just look at this leftist song by the Dropcick Murphys.



Let's be honest. Rousing songs, revolutionary imagery, and other kinds of symbolism get young people who want radical change to read your stuff and take you seriously. Mainstream libertarians' sense of aesthetic is Statue of Liberty stickers on sportcoat lapels. It should be no surprise that the kind of people we attract are the type who read Hayek for leisure.