The Enemy of Your Enemy is No Friend of Liberty – The Libertarian Republic

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By Ian Tartt

As if it didnt already have enough problems, the liberty movement is now divided even more than it was before the last election cycle. This is largely a result of the campaigns of Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton. While most libertarians reacted in horror to both candidates, some were more concerned about one than the other.

Accordingly, some voted for Clinton to stop Trump, while others did the opposite. At the same time, many of them joined organizations that are not libertarian in nature but agreed with them on a handful of issues brought up during the election. This resulted in some libertarians aligning with right-leaning organizations and others aligning with left-leaning organizations.

The core problem with these associations is that they are based on what those from different sides oppose rather than what they support. That is, those who side with right-leaning organizations do so because those organizations oppose socialism; likewise, those standing with left-leaning organizations have allied with them because of their shared opposition to fascism. But simply opposing socialism or fascism does not a libertarian make. Its the consistent recognition and defense of individual liberty that makes one a libertarian.

Because some libertarians are joining with organizations who are merely enemies of their enemies instead of being their friends, there is great risk involved. Over time, they may adopt some decidedly un-libertarian positions and could even end up leaving libertarianism altogether. Of course, that depends on how heavily theyre involved with the organization and why theyre involved with them in the first place.

Another major drawback is that the libertarians who align with non-libertarian organizations often become divided (that is, those working with right-leaning organizations would see those aligning with left-leaning organizations as their enemies, and vice versa). Since there are also a number of libertarians who reject such alliances entirely, the liberty movement is now further split in several different directions. Some libertarians, whether theyre aligned with those on the left, those on the right, or with neither, refuse to work with those who reject their alliance or lack thereof.

While theres nothing wrong with working with an individual or organization to advance a certain goal (such as standing with a right-leaning group to protect gun rights or helping a left-leaning group push for drug decriminalization), libertarians should avoid strong partnerships with those organizations. And they absolutely shouldnt reject fellow libertarians, with whom they agree more often than not, in favor of working with those with whom they almost never agree. Doing either will only weaken the liberty movement by bringing in people who shouldnt be there in the first place and severing ties among those who are natural allies.

The best thing to do at this point is for those libertarians who are strongly aligned with a left or right organization that doesnt respect individual liberty to break those ties. Once they do that, they should try to rebuild as many bridges between themselves and their fellow libertarians as possible. This will help strengthen the bonds between lovers of liberty as well as prevent those unfamiliar with libertarianism from thinking that its something that it isnt. There is still time to undo the damage that was done from unnatural alliances, but until a serious effort to set things right is made, the liberty movement will continue to struggle while increasingly more freedoms are lost.

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The Enemy of Your Enemy is No Friend of Liberty - The Libertarian Republic