Conspiracy theorist talk host Alex Jones and conservative comedian Steven Crowder want to make one thing clear: They are anti-libertarian.
Why? Because libertarians believe in capitalism and free markets which has led to big government and big business being in cahoots. Or something.
They explain here:
Why Alex Jones and I are anti-libertarian. https://t.co/dPO3pLZ0V9 pic.twitter.com/Xnvvq5HeUe
— Steven Crowder (@scrowder) September 14, 2022
It did not take long for Libertarian Dave Smith to point out the obvious:
Wait, so you mean to tell me that big business is in bed with big government?! Well, golly gee. We never thought of that. Libertarianism destroyed!!! https://t.co/11HeGucxBw
— Dave Smith (@ComicDaveSmith) September 15, 2022
Exactly. Libertarians have been saying this forever. As one commenter noted:
There's been warnings & arguments against corporatism from Mises, Rothbard, Hoppe, and even Reason repeatedly over the years.
— Nick Pigheart (@BigPigHeart) September 15, 2022
Also, I mean…
Corporatism To Fascism: Do YOU Have a Plan To Deal With It?https://t.co/dRLvxbac8R pic.twitter.com/0ihGCmrSH2
— Ron Paul (@RonPaul) July 30, 2021
Clearly libertarians have been saying this from the dawn of time. We are often the only ones saying it.
Still, the funniest thing about this clip is that Jones and Crowder sound like what progressive documentarian Michael Moore calls capitalism.
In 2009, Moore’s Capitalism: A Love Story documentary had been released and he was out promoting it.
Back then being libertarian was super cool. The whole Ron Paul phenomenon had just exploded during the 2008 presidential election and the Tea Party movement was taking shape. If trying to be edgy on the Right in 2022 means hating on libertarianism, the exact opposite was true a decade ago.
Just ask Alex Jones.
In that 2009 setting, a student wearing a Coca-Cola-style “Capitalism” shirt had a question for Moore during a Q&A: “I appreciate what you said a little bit earlier about how you’re concerned with, really, this corporate welfare system.”
“What I’m kind of questioning is why do you call your film ‘Capitalism: A Love Story’ and that you’re not actually attacking corporatism, which, in my opinion, is really what the problem is,” he said.
The student continued, “Extremely wealthy individuals, big businesses have such a heavy hand in government. I mean, we have government officials appointed who were working for Goldman Sachs.”
The student later said, “Realistically, is a system of private property and a free market, which is capitalism, really a problem? Or is the fact that we’re giving too much power to government and too much power to those who are working within government…”
Moore stopped the student and replied: “We don’t really have a free market.”
BINGO!
“We don’t have free enterprise,” Moore continued. “As much as I say that we do.”
Implying that big business uses government to eliminate market choice and competition, Moore explained, “See, these people, these wealthy, these corporations, they don’t really like competition. They don’t like us having a choice. They like monopolies. Their nirvana is if they were the only car company. Or the only airline.”
Moore went on, “It’s odd isn’t it that these people who say so much that they believe in our way of life actually believe in a system where they don’t want us to have a choice.”
“They admire the Old Soviet way,” he added, ending his admission to the student that the corporatism he calls “capitalism” and true free markets are different and distinct.
At the time, it was kind of amusing to hear a socialist filmmaker compare crony capitalists to old school communists.
This week it was amusing to hear Alex Jones and Steven Crowder sound just like Michael Moore in how they define capitalism.
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