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Never shying from controversy, I’ve been meaning to tear down some of the fundamental constructs of libertarianism. Or at least, point out how foolishly some people try to apply them. It was suggested to me by a reader to address this use of the term “collectivism” by libertarians, and especially after Larken Rose addressed the FSP, and my interview yesterday morning with Ernest Hancock, I became eager to tackle it because this one really drives me nuts sometimes.
On the one hand, we’ve seen how dangerous collectivism can be. Particularly when combined with statist ambitions. Communism, socialism, eugenics, war, death camps, economic controls, and generally trying to use the violence and coercion of the State in order to bring about the “greater good”, has lead to some of the greatest evil mankind has ever known. Likewise, left wing economic ideas, even when attempting to fit into a voluntary framework, are incoherent at best and catastrophically violent at worst. Labor unions for example, drive up the price of labor until companies go out of business, and that’s before we even get into their undue political influence with the State. Talk to a left anarchist long enough, and he’ll tell you that the labor union is justified in using force to violently overthrow the owner of the factory they work in.