Photo credit/from Geographical
Libertarian social theory prioritizes individual rights. Libertarians focus on rights because they think people should be respected and the respect of the individual leads to increased well being for society. At the same time, respecting individuals leads to three things that make libertarian policies unattractive to normal people: libertarians attract assholes; they tolerate vices, such as drug addiction, even if they don't condone them; and they defend ugly things, like slums.
These issues are important to recognize if you ever want to understand why libertarianism is an unpopular philosophy. Critics may scoff and say it is unpopular because it's obviously wrong. That's not a persuasive answer in a nation where large majorities have supported hideously bad policies like slavery, segregation, and way too many wars. So if the unpopularity of libertarianism can't be chalked up to error, another possibility is simply that is seems diagusting to people.
Consider the asshole, the person who says nasty things and antagonizes people. Other political philosophies give people license to squash these jerks. In today's world, antiracists love to cancel bigots. Such suppression no doubt feels good to the antiracist. But libertarians have a real issue. Even if you openly admit that the racist bigot is wrong and should be ignored, you never get the emotional satisfaction from squashing them. Free speech defenders need to tolerate real discomfort.
Consider the conservative scold and the drug addict. Conservatives likely feel a great deal of pleasure when they put drugs users and dealers jail. If you don't believe me, watch 1980s pop culture. Real heroes fight drugs. The libertarian is in a very weird emotional position when it comes to vices. Yes, drug addiction is horrible and you can condemn it but you never get the emotional satisfaction of putting the drug dealer behind bars. And talking about how drug legalization would likely lead to fewer problem seems like a pipe dream to the drug warrior who gets his high from putting people in jail.
Even when people agree with libertarian complaints and even admit that a proposed libertarian solution might work, they still think it is to ugly tonaccept. For example, some people agree that housing is too expensive and they agree that deregulating builders would increae supply especially for the poor. While some folks might resist such reforms based on self-interest, most folks probably find the prospect of having poor neighbors ot higher density housing simply repulsive.
What ties these examples together is disgust. Most political philosophies encourage people to go along with their emotional reactions. In contrast, libertarianism asks you to tolerate things that most normal people hate.
Bottom line: Freedom is a beautiful ugly thing and libertarians need to deal with that fact.
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