IT'S WRONG TO THINK THE PALEOCONS ARE JUST NOW ARRIVING HERE...:

 It was more than six years ago that my article "Against Libertarian Brutalism" raised a conjecture: a libertarianism, rendered simply as nothing more than a "leave me alone" outlook, with no larger aspiration for the good life, and no interest in the subject of social cooperation, could find itself divorced from a historical conception of what the advent of liberty has meant to human life and society as a whole. Without that, we fail to develop good instincts for interpreting the world around us. We are even reduced to syllogistic slogans and memes which can be deeply misleading and feed even illiberal bias.

And where does this bias end up? Where are the limits? I see them daily online. In the name of fighting the left, many have turned the other direction to embrace an alternative form of identitarianism, restrictions on trade and migration, curbs on essential civil liberties, and even toyed with the freedom of the press and the rights of private enterprise, in the name of humiliating and eliminating the enemy. Some go further to celebrate anything they believe the left hates, including even odious causes from the authoritarian past.

The rhetoric at the extremes approaches nihilism. The press isn't really free so why not impose restrictions, censorship, and litigated punishments? The borders aren't private so why not prohibit all entry? Some speech doesn't support freedom so why permit it the rights that freedom entails? Social media companies aren't really private enterprises, so why not force them to carry and promote some accounts that I like? That large company has a government contract so why not bust it up with antitrust? 

The gradual evolution of language has unleashed all kinds of confusion. Activists denounce "the establishment" without a clear distinction between government and influential media voices. They will decry "globalism" without bothering to distinguish the World Bank from an importer of Chinese fireworks. They promote identitarianism and racial collectivism without the slightest understanding of the illiberal origins and uses of these ideologies in 20th-century history. After all, they say, there is nothing "inherently un-libertarian" about casting down an entire people, religion, gender, language, or race, so long as you don't directly use violence.

It takes a special kind of circuitous sophistry to justify, in the name of liberty, collectivistic animus and state violence against voluntary association. But the history of politics shows people are capable of making huge mental leaps in service of ideological goals. All it takes is small steps, little excuses, tweaks of principle here and there, seemingly minor compromises, some element of confirmation bias, and you are good to go, ready to make as much sense as the old communist slogan that you have to break eggs to make omelets.

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