Note: this entry might seem a little aggro, but it's more tongue in cheek... it's the product of years of dealing with libertarians and hating every minute of it.
Lately I've been seeing a lot of stupidity all over the blogosphere from libertarians, and it's really annoying.
Libertarians in my opinion are impossible to deal with and have their heads shoved so far up their asses they can't see beyond their privilege and textbook word vomit they spit up verbatim from an economics textbook.
First, I'd like to point out that the idea of capitalism was born out of colonialism. Its humble beginnings in the 16th and 17th centuries, well into the colonization of all of Africa and Asia, and the beginnings of the pillaging of the Americas. The current "developed" world stole land, resources, and human labor, creating vast amounts of wealth for itself. Following this accumulation of wealth came capitalism. Fast forward 500 years and you have a world in utter imbalance.
Libertarians love to speak of personal choice, often employing violent imagery, such as: "no one is holding a gun to your head forcing you to (insert whatever here: buy some good or service, work whatever job, or what have you)". What libertarians fail to see in their textbooks -- which are mostly written by upper class white males -- is that their entire ideology is based upon this imbalance.
Because the world is the way it is today, personal choice is relative. The choices available to a young, white, college educated libertarian who lives in the US are way more plentiful and vastly different than say the choices available to a landless peasant in Latin America or South East Asia, or an undocumented immigrant in the US. Libertarians fail to see this and will box all circumstances and people into their narrow libertarian rhetoric.
Here's an argument I hear a lot from many libertarians: sending labor overseas makes perfect business sense. The corporation cuts costs, in turn offering their product at a lower price to consumers, and people in whatever third world country benefit because sweatshops bring them new opportunities and a higher paying job. I mean, if they had higher paying work before the sweatshop went in, they wouldn't have gone to work there. They work there by choice. When pressed further they employ their violent imagery... no one is holding them hostage there, they chose to work there because it was a better option for them, and so on. IT'S A WIN - WIN!!!!
Normally my response to this would be FUCK YOU, but I'll break it down a little more, for the sake of argument. A lot of people in the global south, or immigrant workers in the US, DO NOT have the luxury of choice. The developed world, and these corporations and huge multinationals have robbed them of all their options, therefore that new Nike factory is the only place to work.
Because these libertarians are so privileged and lack emotion, they fail to see the realities that surround them.
Most of the people that work in the Maquiladoras on the Mexico-US border are impoverished people from rural communities or landless indigenous people. Their land stolen by multinationals. In many Latin American countries you have millions of indigenous peoples whose livelihoods and land have been robbed. They are being forced to live in a capitalistic society (they did not choose this system, it was forced on them, by libertarians, free market capitalists, the harbingers of freedom and enemies of happiness). They have no other choice than to work for money... they migrate to cities and work in sweatshops -- so they can feed their family and send their kids to school. They can no longer live off the land they've cultivated for centuries because that land is now owned by Dole or Del Monte.
Many Latin American immigrants in the US are refugees of war (created or instigated by the US, because Latin American governments don't run their countries, US and European corporations do that). Being undocumented, they are forced to work certain jobs that are either very low wage or unpaid. They don't have the choice to stand up for their rights or to leave their job, or even the ability to apply for the same jobs many of these libertarians can acquire. What would happen? they would either be deported back to their homeland (the home they are seeking refuge from), or they would just be unemployed because they are unable to acquire other work.
Do you know why labor is "cheaper" in the global south? This is the legacy of colonialism... this shit is so real!
Once I brought up the point about land and the legacy of colonialism to a libertarian. The response I got was some gibberish about private property and how if they had owned their land, they wouldn't be in their predicament. AGAIN, bringing it back to this privileged idea of personal choices and private property. It's their fault, the decisions they made or failed to make caused their current state. That's essentially what they are getting at. Just erase history and fit everyone into your libertarian rubric.
I mean, are you serious??? are you that naive and stupid??? I'm sure indigenous peoples, who have lived in the Americas for thousands of years thought to put a price on the land they nourished and worshiped, so in the case some bayonet slinging Europeans come to try to steal it, they could be like... umm, actually, you wanna get some land in the Andes? that'll be $300 per square foot, we accept cash or American Express. Oh and BTW, because these mountains are rich in gold, silver and many other precious minerals that we're sure you'll extract -- we expect 10% from your sales, thanks!
They weren't given a choice, they're not given one now either... they live in a system imposed upon them. A system that makes perfect sense to many suburban white people.
Who do you think you are that you feel you can impose your privileged European ideology on everyone on this planet??? Indigenous people don't think of the land as someone's private property. They live for the land and, in return, the land gives them life! Pachamama is not the property of anyone.
You can't just ignore the entire spectrum of human emotion, experience and historical inequities and rely on numbers, graphs, and flawed ideology. Just because free market capitalism makes sense for you, doesn't mean it will make sense for me or any other person in the global south, or in the US.
If you are so much for personal choice and liberty, why don't you STFU for one second and listen to another person's point of view? If you are so much for personal choice and liberty, why do you denounce the millions of people in this world who oppose capitalism? who oppose sweatshops? who oppose corporations sucking the life out of the earth, destroying people's lives in the process? I mean, that's the CHOICE they made! why are you holding a gun to people's heads and forcing them to love the free market?
Do these people not have the liberty to make their own decisions? are they "morons" because they disagree with you, therefore not worthy of making a decision that they feel will benefit them?
It seems like you are crushing people's personal freedoms when you do that.
PS- I'd like to point out that many of these corporations, these free market capitalists, have historically opposed people in the global south from creating products. Limiting their personal freedom and their ability to produce as they see fit for themselves. Because ultimately, we aren't really dealing with personal freedom, we're dealing with profits. Fuck the personal freedom of people in the global south because it will negatively affect our bottom line. They have, for centuries, sought to hold a monopoly on the world's resources so that global south nations will always be dependent on the "developed" world. Maintaining the aforementioned imbalance.
Do you ever wonder why most countries in the global south do not have their own auto industries? I mean, most of the resources that go into the creation of an automobile come from the global south. Or why Latin American nations do not have their own brands of coffee? They all drink Nescafe (a Swiss brand), while most of those coffee beans come from Latin America. hmmmmmmmmmm, maybe I'll google it!! or better yet, I'll ask a libertarian, they know everything!
For another take on racism, historical oppression and libertarians check out Tim Wise's essay:
Racism, Free Markets, and Libertarian Deceit.
