Tucker, Candace, MAGA, and my hopes for the future.

The world is very interesting right now, with many dangers, and even more reasons for optimism.

I recently watched Scott Horton’s appearance on Candace Owen’s show, talking about the overthrow of Bashar al-Assad in Syria and the recent history of the region He was also promoting his magnificent new book Provoked: How Washington Started the New Cold War with Russia and the Catastrophe in Ukraine.

Scott did a great job in that appearance. And I was very happy that Candace had him on her large platform to promote him and his work.

Similarly, I’m very glad that Tucker Carlson (as well as Candace) has had Dave Smith on (here and here) to promote the wisdom of our libertarian anti-war positions, as well as our “small government” philosophy in general.

I’m also glad that at least a portion of the MAGA movement (including Trump himself) are being positively influenced by libertarianism as of late, shifting towards some of our positions at least a little bit.

Hopefully, that will continue. I have good reason to think it will, but I also have concerns.

Strange bedfellows

At the moment, libertarianism is “pushing in the same direction” politically as some people like Tucker, Candace and much of the MAGA movement, whom I will clumsily label as “Christian nationalists”.

The “Christian” part of this is no problem. I love Christians. Christians have a set of values that aligns with mine with no problem at all. Christians make great friends, neighbors, and partners. But as friend of the show Dominic Scarcella intimates, Christians are at their worst when they embrace the state.

Let me explain.

Libertarianism orients rights at the level of the individual. Property rights, freedom of association, and the panoply of freedoms that spin out of these two basic rights are things attributable to individuals, not groups.

Of course, individuals love to form groups and associations of all kinds. It’s how we accomplish almost all of the magnificent things we do. But these associations should be voluntary, not mandated via governmental force.

Because of this, we favor political decentralization, in general and on principle. For anarchists like me, we favor political decentralization right down to the level of the individual. But falling short of the optimal, in general, small political units are better than large ones.

For this reason, libertarians are opposed to any form of “global governance” such as the UN, NATO, IMF, WB, WEF, etc. We approved of “Brexit” and favor secessionist movements in general.

At the moment, the biggest political pushback against global governance is coming from right-wing (usually Christian) nationalists.

Now, from my perspective, nationalism isn’t great, but if it’s the strongest bulwark I can find against left-wing, corporate/fascistic/socialistic world government amalgamations of political power, then I’ll take it, and be glad of it.

Christian Nationalism can be (at its worst) dogmatic and intolerant, but right now it’s a strong defense against woke leftism and our current trans/racist/identitarian insanity.

So, I find myself grateful for the strong support against globalism and leftism, but I am also concerned. Tucker and Candace and (much of) MAGA are providing a right-wing Christian nationalist defense against some very awful and unlibertarian things.

But what happens if we/they win? How can we libertarians use this powerful ally without falling prey to its version of unlibertarian statism? I am opposed to left-wing globalist statism. I am also opposed to right-wing nationalist statism. How can libertarians “ride this wave” of right-wing opposition without becoming a victim of it?

How can we thread this needle? Is it possible?

I think it is. And I think the solution is to do exactly what we are doing right now: talking to them, and working with them if possible.

Every time a libertarian has honest conversations with right-wingers, I think we rub off on them a little. I think right now libertarians have one of the biggest “strike-while-the-iron-is-hot” moments that has ever existed. We must use it to gently nudge right-wingers in our philosophical direction.

And interestingly, I think that is also true on the left. Over the last 8 years, sensible left-wingers have seen their chosen political vehicle, the Democratic party, go absolutely insane.

They have seen their favored academic institutions implode, pushing hateful racist and sexist and identitarian nonsense.

They have seen their favored media institutions lie to them. They have seen experts (supposedly the trustworthy “court advisors” to the enlightened, sensible, and large government they favor) tell enormous untruths, blatantly, and unapologetically.

Now is the perfect time for libertarians to reach out to left-wingers and explain what went wrong in their universe and how some of the principles they thought were bedrock sound… aren’t.

So, as I say all the time, we live in wildly chaotic times. A huge part of our world is in flux. Many things are possible. There is much danger. There is even more opportunity.

I hope we can chart our course through the current chaos towards a more free, prosperous, and peaceful world. That is my Christmas wish, and my hope for the new year, and beyond.

Naturally,

Adam

PS: Grab a copy of Scott’s new book Provoked by visiting my “Essential Things” page. It’s where I am keeping a list of things (usually books) that I consider absolute must-haves.

Take a look. Scott’s is the latest entry, right down at the bottom.