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An infirm hand on the tiller has its advantages Watching the Greek drama unfold is fascinating » Portrait of an obsession: Every Alternet and/or Salon headline about libertarians from the last two years. The following content was posted by Radley Balko to Facebook — I claim no credit for it. I would normally have just linked to it, but links to Facebook content are often a bit fragile, and this is perhaps one of the most spectacular things I’ve seen for a while and deserves wider viewing. Now improved! Edited to add headlines from March through July! Portrait of an obsession: Every Alternet and/or Salon headline about libertarians from the last two years. As Gene Healy put it, “Never before have so many been so intimidated by so few with so little political power.” [New articles up to July 2015] Libertarianism is for white men What Rand Paul’s libertarian hypocrisy reveals about the GOP’s giant race problem America’s libertarian freakshow: Inside the free-market fetish of Rand Paul & Ted Cruz Rise of the techno-Libertarians: The 5 most socially destructive aspects of Silicon Valley Big Data’s big libertarian lie: Facebook, Google and the Silicon Valley ethical overhaul we need Elon Musk will not save us: Why libertarians waiting for a superman are wasting everyone’s time Beware the Silicon Valley elite: Ayn Rand, Google libertarianism and Indiana’s “religious freedom” I was a troll on the white dude-bro Internet: The dark side of gaming, libertarianism, and guns Rand Paul’s civil rights fiasco: How Jon Stewart just unmasked him — and exposed libertarians’ perverted view of freedom Rand Paul’s dystopian America: 6 things to know about the war-mongering, faux libertarian 5 Worst Things About the Techno-Libertarians Solidifying Their Grasp on Our Economy and Culture Liberland: Hundreds of Thousands Apply to Live in the World’s Newest—Very Tiny—Libertarian ‘Country’ Rand Paul, Doofus: The Libertarian’s Embarrassing “Racial Outreach” Will War Between the Religious Right and Libertarians Tear the Tea Party Apart? My Personal Libertarian Hell: How I Enraged the Movement and Paid the Price How Big Business Invented the Theology of ‘Christian Libertarianism’ and the Gospel of Free Markets Welcome to ‘Libertarian Island’: Inside the Frightening Economic Dreams of Silicon Valley’s Super Rich It’s Bizarre: Libertarians Are Clueless About the ‘Free Market’ That They Worship The True History of Libertarianism in America: A Phony Ideology to Promote a Corporate Agenda [New articles up to March 2015] Libertarianism is for petulant children: Ayn Rand, Rand Paul and the movement’s sad “rebellion” The atheist libertarian lie: Ayn Rand, income inequality and the fantasy of the “free market” Nightmare libertarian project turns country into the murder capital of the world 21 Rand Paul quotes that expose libertarianism for the con job it is Ann Coulter: Libertarian voters are “idiots” who deserve to “drown” My unusual libertarian journey: How a former outlaw broke the political mold Libertarian Sham: Using the L Word to Hide Even Worse Politics Ayn Rand’s capitalist paradise lost: The inside story of a libertarian scam The sharing economy is a lie: Uber, Ayn Rand and the truth about tech and libertarians Rand Paul’s libertarian hoax: Why his latest strategy is a sham “That’s something that should make libertarians nervous”: Inside the tumultuous rise of an American ideology You’re Not the Boss of Me! Why Libertarianism Is a Childish Sham Big Economic Theory Underpinning Libertarian Economics Is Total Baloney The True History of Libertarianism in America: A Phony Ideology to Promote a Corporate Agenda Koch-Tied Group Tries to Trick Stoners Into Voting for Wisconsin Libertarian Rand Paul’s Quest to Woo Young People — What Does It Mean for Libertarianism? Koch Brothers: Teach Our Libertarian Claptrap and Get Millions for Your College! What Happened When Some Libertarians Went Off to Build Ayn Rand’s Vision of Paradise [New articles up to September 2014] Confessions of a recovering Libertarian: How I escaped a world of Ron Paul hero worship Rand Paul gets schooled: Libertarian fantasies don’t help kids learn — teachers do Ferguson brings the libertarians: Why a new coalition has everyone confused Libertarians’ true identity revealed: Rich conservatives OK with gay people, basically The GOP’s libertarian time bomb: Why “going Rand” would be an electoral disaster The 7 strangest libertarian ideas The atheist libertarian lie: Ayn Rand, income inequality and the fantasy of the “free market” Ann Coulter: Libertarian voters are “idiots” who deserve to “drown” Ron Paul’s no Nirvana, and this isn’t the “Libertarian Moment” Proof the GOP’s newfound “libertarianism” is a big ol’ sham Stephen Colbert skewers libertarian scheme: “I’m tired of the whole idea of a melting pot in America” The GOP’s new holy land: How libertarianism is changing the face of the Republican Party Rand Paul, Giant Libertarian Fraud Koch Brothers: Teach Our Libertarian Claptrap and Get Millions for Your College! How Hanging Out With Libertarians Made Me Stop Being a Libertarian You Don’t Know What ‘Libertarian’ Means Some Self-Described Libertarians Can’t Distinguish Libertarian from Communist or Unitarian What Happened When Some Libertarians Went Off to Build Ayn Rand’s Vision of Paradise NYT Sunday Magazine Falls Hook, Line and Sinker For Libertarians’ Big Propaganda Lie Why Are Koch Brothers Trying to Masquerade as Libertarians? Ugly Right-Wing Underbelly of the Libertarian Cause on Display at Silicon Valley Conference

7 Libertarian Upstarts Who Might Help Democrats Keep Their U.S. Senate Majority: These beer-swilling, racist, movie junkie, misogynist and plain-jane Libertarians might just help Dems keep the Senate. Libertarians’ Sneaky New Crusade What would the Founding Fathers have thought about our libertarian crazies? Death of a Libertarian Fantasy: Why Dreams of a Digital Utopia Are Rapidly Fading Away How the Libertarian Agenda Drowns Out Rational Approaches to Major Social Problems Like Guns and Auto Accidents How Libertarianism Would Actually Curtail Human Freedom Disgraced coal baron rebrands himself as libertarian activist Libertarians’ anti-government crusade: Now there’s an app for that Why I left libertarianism: An ethical critique of a limited ideology The question libertarians just can’t answer Grow up, Libertarians! [New articles up to May 2014] Google shows libertarians the money Cliven Bundy’s next sick libertarian paradise: Georgia wants you to die from gun violence Libertarians’ scary new star: Meet Bryan Caplan, the right’s next “great” philosopher Fresh Silicon Valley libertarian idiocy: Government is “slavery” The libertarian dream crypto-currency is here — but its fate remains uncertain

Piketty shrugged: How the French economist dashed libertarians’ Ayn Randian fantasies Astra Taylor’s radical Internet critique: “I don’t want to give in to the libertarian logic of our time” Ralph Nader Wants You to Join Right-Wing Libertarians to Solve America’s Problems: What Could Possibly Go Wrong? [New articles up to April 2014] Don’t Leave Bitcoin to the Libertarians! Why the Progressive Movement Needs Open Source Money Young, rich and politically ignorant: Sean Parker and the next generation of libertarian billionaires Cause for trepidation: Libertarians’ newfound concern for prison reform 10 reasons Americans should be wary of Rand Paul’s libertarianism — especially millennials Libertarians’ delusional “New Atlantis” fantasy: Floating ocean city-states CEO of Reddit: “The userbase for bitcoin is basically crazy libertarians” Game over: How libertarians lost the battle for Bitcoin’s soul Why We Should Be Suspicious of the Libertarian Right’s Newfound Concern for Prison Reform 3 inconvenient facts that make libertarians’ heads explode Libertarians’ ethical gap: Why their alliance with Christians is based on contempt Sorry, libertarians: The IRS is going to levy taxes on your bit coins [Articles from 2012 to February 2014] Letter to an Angry Libertarian The Libertarian Billionaire Agenda Propelling the Tea Party Monster That Has Shut Down Congress What America Would Look Like If Libertarians Got Their Way Why Atheist Libertarians Are Part of America’s 1 Percent Problem Libertarian Writings that Read Like Comic Books The True History of Libertarianism in America: A Phony Ideology to Promote a Corporate Agenda Latest Major Chemical Spill Exposes Flaws of Libertarian Approach to Govt. Why Libertarians Are Basically Cult Members The Terrifying Future Envisioned By Libertarians Meet Former GOP Public Relations Flak Radley Balko, Now a Libertarian Crusader Against Police Militarization How a Libertarian Used Ayn Rand’s Crazy Philosophy to Drive Sears Into the Ground The Libertarian Con: Favorite ‘Rebel’ Ideology of the Ruling Class Libertarian Developer’s Ayn Rand Fantasy Is Detroit’s Latest Nightmare How an Ayn Rand-Loving Libertarian Destroyed The Company He Runs With His Cultish Objectivist Theories Exposed: How a Lot of the Libertarian Outrage Over Govt. Spying Is Just Shilling for the Private Surveillance Biz Don’t Be Fooled by Pot-Loving Libertarian Gary Johnson — He Works for the 1% Libertarian Activist Openly Loads Shotgun and Calls for Revolution in D.C. Are Right-Wing Libertarian Internet Trolls Getting Paid to Dumb Down Online Conversations? The Really Creepy People Behind the Libertarian-Inspired Billionaire Sea Castles A Rand Paul Presidential Campaign Would Teach Americans Just How Vicious and Anti-Social the Libertarian Agenda Is The Ultimate Escape: The Bizarre Libertarian Plan of Uploading Brains into Robots to Escape Society Jon Stewart Eviscerates Free-Market Libertarianism in Bit on Illegal Foreclosure Libertarian Suggests Children Should be Trained to Tackle Shooters Exposed: How a Lot of the Libertarian Outrage Over Govt. Spying Is Just Shilling for the Private Surveillance Biz Ayn Randroids and Libertarians Join Forces: Will Her Noxious Philosophy Further Infect America? Libertarians in 2013: The Even Whiter, Wealthier, WASPier Bastion of Republican Party Politically Isolated Libertarians Go Literal, Consolidating Plans For Man-Made Libertarian Islands Why Libertarians Play the Clowns in the Circus Show Called the Republican Party Libertines v. Libertarians: Dominique Strauss-Kahn’s Rejection of Sexual Restraints The secret libertarianism of Uber & Airbnb Great Disawakening: A Burgeoning Libertarian Contagion? When libertarianism fails Libertarians with money, scarier than a black man with a gun Christie slams ‘libertarian’ trend on security Libertarianism’s Amorality Colonial Americans Were Not Libertarians! Why Libertarianism Loses Me (Hint: Because I Love Steak) Bringing back feudalism-Is libertarianism an unwitting tool? The question libertarians just can’t answer Why I fled libertarianism — and became a liberal Confessions of a former Libertarian: My personal, psychological and intellectual epiphany 5 libertarian oligarchs who made fortunes off the government they want to destroy GOP’s epic internal struggle: The modernists vs. libertarian fabulists “The Daily Show” destroys Fox News libertarian Andrew Napolitano for blaming the Civil War on Abraham Lincoln Edward Snowden: A libertarian hero Don’t ally with libertarians: Ideologues co-opt an anti-NSA rally 11 questions to see if libertarians are hypocrites A Bitcoin libertarian disaster: The Silk Road gets busted 5 bogus libertarian talking points Libertarians are very confused about capitalism A libertarian nightmare: Bitcoin meets Big Government Libertarians: Still a cult The screwed generation: Libertarian, not liberal Grow up, Libertarians! “The Walking Dead”: Anti-libertarian critique A libertarian man’s surprising proposal: Gender quotas! “Libertarian populism” = Ayn Rand in disguise Sorry, libertarians: You’re still hypocrites How to beat libertarians on the economy Antonin Scalia, civil libertarian? Judge behind Verizon order tied to free trip from libertarian think tank Here’s what’s wrong with Ayn Rand, libertarians Libertarians are even whiter and wealthier than the GOP The libertarian/marijuana conspiracy to swing the election Libertarians name North Dakota “most free” state Is Werner Herzog a libertarian? “The Libertarian Case for Mitt Romney” is hilarious Rand Paul tries to sell social conservatives on libertarianism Thom Hartmann: Libertarians are pushing us over a cliff Liberals should unite with Libertarians (sometimes) Libertarians who don’t understand liberty Ann Coulter gets booed by a roomful of libertarians Libertarians fear Obamacare so much they closed the government How Libertarian-Style Capitalism Killed My Father and My Best Friends Share this...

VK Print An infirm hand on the tiller has its advantages Watching the Greek drama unfold is fascinating »