It might feel really good to hear people tell you that Bitcoin will, at any moment now, rid us all of State oppression. It probably brings joy to many to hear that all we need to do for freedom is live peacefully, and make babies. This or that candidate will change things, the system is on the verge of collapse, this or that website, movie, project, or event is going to revolutionize the world. Love is the answer, liberty is inevitable, freedom is a state of mind, a list of pithy catchphrases and slogans too long for me to list without vomiting.

Optimistic Libertarians Are Delusional and/or Lying

Unfortunately, the reality is far grimmer than any of these senseless memes would lead the listener to believe. The fact of the matter is, the struggle for liberty is a contest. One which we can lose. One which we may, in all reality, have already lost.

This may not come as news to some of you, but for others still lost in the foggy haze of optimistic nonsense, I'll be the one to break it to you. History is not on our side. The evidence does not suggest we are on the verge of anything resembling a mass philosophical awakening. Things get exponentially worse by the minute. Not only in terms of government actions, but in terms of our opposition to them becoming less and less meaningful and effective. 

I've seen purported libertarians get excited about riots in Greece, Egypt, and Libya, although all of those eruptions of mass discontent only led to more government control. Here at home, we've watched riots in Ferguson, and Baltimore, mass demonstrations throughout the country chanting #BlackLivesMatter, as if the problem with compulsory police forces was that they had too many guns, or persecuted the demographics responsible for the majority of crime in the society. Cheering on civil unrest for the sake of civil unrest, no matter what ideological agenda drives the violence, isn't cheering for liberty, it is cheering for death and destruction.

When a cop pulls a woman out of her car for a turn signal problem, violently kidnaps her, and leaves her in a cage until she hangs herself, should a libertarian movement think the issue at hand is the race of that woman? When a child with a toy gun gets killed by police, should the issue a libertarian movement focuses on, be the race of that child? When a man is strangled on the street in broad daylight for not paying cigarette taxes, should the issue a libertarian movement focuses on, be the race of that man?