I believe that getting into bed with social conservatives was one of the worst things to happen to libertarianism. Now that election season is upon us I’m reminded of this every day. Self-proclaimed libertarians are openly declaring their support for Republican frontrunners that continue to remind us that their interests aligned with fascism, not libertarianism.
The recent kerfuffle between Apple and the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) is yet another demonstration of this. Using the All Writs Act, a federal court is trying to make literal slaves out of Apple’s iOS developers. Anybody who subscribed to even very basic libertarian principles would oppose this order. But a fascist, whose loyalty is to the State above all else, would support. So where does Donald Trump stand?
GOP presidential front-runner Donald Trump is insisting that Apple unlock the iPhone of one of the shooters in the San Bernardino, Calif., terrorist attack.
[…]
Trump disagreed stridently on Wednesday, calling it a matter of “common sense.”
“I agree 100 percent with the courts,” the business mogul said. “In that case, we should open it up. I think security over all — we have to open it up, and we have to use our heads. We have to use common sense.”
Donald believes Apple’s software developers are property of the State and should be compelled to write software. Let’s look at the current favorite amongst so-called libertarians, Ted Cruz (and we’ll throw in his buddy Carson as an added bonus):
Cruz said, “Apple has a serious argument” in protecting users’ privacy but said resisting the FBI’s request for help amounted to defying a search warrant. Carson said that Apple should find a way to get over mistrust of the government, but then added that might have to wait until President Obama leaves office, allowing for a delay that the FBI would probably oppose.
As if defying a terrible court order is a bad thing. My “libertarian” friends that support Cruz keep telling me he’s for small government and individual liberty but I can’t fathom how a man who thinks a court has a right to enslave software developers is for small government. Carson also demonstrates his love of government by criticizing Apple for being mistrustful of it.
Finally, just for fun, I’m going to throw in Tom “I Hate Due Process” Cotton for giggles:
“As a society, we don’t allow phone companies to design their systems to avoid lawful, court-ordered searches,” Cotton said in the statement. “If we apply a different legal standard to companies like Apple, Google, and Facebook, we can expect them to become the preferred messaging services of child pornographers, drug traffickers, and terrorists alike — which neither these companies nor law enforcement want.”
Whereas the other Republicans at least tried to sound kind of reasonable, Cotton went straight for the “messaging service of child pornographers, drug traffickers, and terrorists” line.
The Republican Party really is the party of fascism (as opposed to their close rival, the Democratic Party, which prefers its socialism be international). Not only are the policies put forth by Republican lawmakers generally fascist in nature but its members can’t help themselves when an opportunity to go on television and public declare their fascist policies presents itself. How this is supposed to be the party libertarians can prevail with is beyond me.
Part of the ongoing attempt to establish that the government does not get to do certain things, regardless of voter behavior, by leveraging voter behavior.
So seductive. So fundamentally contradictory.
Carson said that Apple should find a way to get over mistrust of the government, but then added that might have to wait until President Obama leaves office
Good one, Carson! Like we’re gonna trust any of you Republican assholes any more than we do Democrats.
the preferred messaging services of child pornographers, drug traffickers, and terrorists
None of those scare me much. What DOES scare me is criminals in the government, like Cotton and his friends, who use communication lines that are highly secure to keep the American people from knowing what evil machinations they’re up to.
I 100% agree with your argument, I would argue that the primary season is partially causing the the GOP politicians to have to side with the FBI to gain votes, because the candidates don’t trust that a great majority of their own knee-jerk reaction prone GOO voters will be able to decipher the Apple situation before the votes are cast in South Carolina and Nevada. The timing of the court order by the Obama administration was deliberate in that sense, to create a situation where there is this public revelation of the fascism you proved exists with is post. But possibly the GOP candidates are lying In regards to their support of the FBI in the Apple case, and you may see some of them change their tune after the South Carolina and Nevada primary votes are cast. The wave of hysteria created by the media is a lot to compete with for example if trump wanted to try to explain the complexities of an argument involving the FBI laundering slavery through Tim Cook onto his engneers, it would sound paranoid even though it is true. Very difficult play for the candidates because they are being forced by the Obama administration to jusge the level of hysteria of their voters.