I’m glad that the libertarians heckled him. It shows that not all the RWNJs aren’t all on the same page, which is as it should be as Trumpism is as small-l libertarian as a blood blister. (You ever pop those things? Messy fun!)

My thoughts on libertarianism are well-known here and would just be ranting into the wind but I must say fuck that political questionnaire that puts you on a two-axis political compass of personal and economic freedom. That it’s explicitly framed in terms of promoting something desirable (liberty) should tell you something. As far as I’m concerned that “political compass” test (I don’t have a link but it’s been around for literally decades) is as valid as a Scientology personality test, with the same recruiting aims. If you answer the questions reasonably and humanely they’ll call you a libertarian and I wouldn’t be at all surprised if the people behind the test have links to the capital-L party.

Not only is it insidious in itself, but poli sci and high-school government teachers often assign it to thejr impressionable students to take as preferably one of several political tests because it’s been around so long and seems innocuous. ‘T ain’t. ‘Tis propaganda. What red-blooded 16-year-old (or 19-year-old) could resist maximum freedom and keeping The Man off his neck? We know it’s all a FYIGM front for an anarcho-capitalist hellscape, but the test makes it sound so appealing. Who wants to be authoritarian? Who doesn’t want to be fiscally conservative and socially liberal?* Taxation is theft.

• Being socially liberal and fiscally conservative is untenable because social programs, even just the ones all but the most conservative support, require large amounts of taxing, borrowing, and spending, with a large administrative state. The “fiscally conservative, socially liberal” chestnut is just that. Not that that’s a problem with libertarians since they’re against social spending on principle so they’re not actually socially liberal at all, but y’know. Libertarians are very good at messaging, which makes it odd that it’s not a more popular ideology. Presumably lots of prospectives are turned off the moment they encounter an actual libertarian.

Are there libertarian Scientologists?