"[T]he AfD in Germany is actually a really good example of one of these sort of strange bedfellow-type parties that I actually think is sort of unhelpfully described as either neo-Nazi or Nazi-curious. What it actually is is it was founded by ordoliberal economics professors who disliked the way Merkel was handling the eurozone crisis, and thought you needed more monetary discipline and more fiscal discipline. They then created an alliance with basically ethnonationalists, traditionalist members of the so-called New Right, who felt that modernity had produced a fallen world, and we needed to get back to more rooted links to the land and that certain populations belonged in some spaces and not others. And now they have created this kind of this far-right neoliberal party, that Alice Weidel sort of gives voice to when she says that, you know, “We’re actually a libertarian conservative party,” as she said in her Spaces chat with Musk.

The AfD is one of only many far-right parties that now Musk is aggressively platforming. In the last few days, he has promoted Viktor Orbán, Giorgia Meloni, the AfD, and in the past has gone as far as promoting Tommy Robinson, the sort of far-right figure from the U.K. He has adopted not just sort of a tame language of democracy, as Vance tends to be using, but a language as he used in the rally that he zoomed into of “Germany for the Germans” and saying that multiculturalism must not be allowed to dilute the German people. So these are now proper tropes of the far right as such, and indeed tropes of the “great replacement” theory, which suggests that liberals have used welfare policy and refugee policy to buy voters, which can then swamp and dilute the native population.
(...)
The thing that I think is interesting and important, and perhaps a sign of rare optimism these days, is that Germans actually don’t like Elon Musk interfering in their politics."
https://www.democracynow.org/2025/2/20/quinn_slobodian_maga_doge_capitalism

#USA #Musk #Doge #Capitalism #Libertarianism #Germany #AfD

As you will know I'm no stranger to typos, so this cartoon goes out to anyone who sent me a massage about a typo in a post (as always thanks for your help, much appreciated) bit also to my Mastodon friend @h4890 who will appreciate this on a Saturday morning.

#Libraries #libertarianism #reading #books

So maybe I should just give up on #anarchism and call myself #libertariansocialist?

If it weren't for the fact that I see #libertarianism as a way of depriving people from the protections of law, protections that given us boundless goods.

I believe in a system of law and governance that ASSURES power from the ground up. One that is resilient against feudalism, nationalism, imperialism and all forms of anti-collective engines that seek to consolidate power.

While researching the origins of right-wing #libertarianism and #anarcho-capitalism I came up to this interesting document.

https://archive.lewrockwell.com/north/north145.html

Funding, activities, the actors contributing to all this, revolve around gangster thugs, anti-communism, strike-busting, election-rigging, pro-Nazi-ism, and the FBI.

Money outsourced pseudo-intellectuals to provide some theoretical-ideological backing

#communism #anarchism #libertarian @heretical_i

https://www.wrightswriting.com/post/the-rise-of-right-wing-libertarianism-since-the-1950s

Private Prison Stocks Soar; Immigrant Rights Activists Vow to Fight Trump Mass Deportations
https://www.democracynow.org/2024/11/12/silky_shah_mass_deportations_under_trump

* Trump vows to deport millions undoc. immigrants
* private prison stocks soaring
* Trump1: border wall
* Trump2: mass deportations
* Immigrant rights advocates preparing for Trump2’s threats of mass deportation
* private prison companies take more & more of immigration detention

#PrisonIndustrialComplex #PrivatePrisons #Trump2 #fascism #libertarianism #corporation #xenophobia

cont'd

* APF one of U.S.’ highest-revenue police foundations
* supports projects that supplement Atlanta Police Department’s $250 million budget
* watchdog organization Private Equity Stakeholder Project investigates ties betw. private equity & APF
* argue that private equity influence is at heart of planned forest conversion (Cop City)

#libertarianism #MilitarizedPolice #PoliceAccountability #DefundPolice #WealthTax #APF #PESP #CopCity #StopCopCity #Atlanta #PoliceState #neofascism

Should people have a choice to attempt living outside of capitalism?

https://friendica.world/display/84b6ef2b-7367-76a9-0d13-12b031354204

#neoliberalism #anarchism #socialism #marxism #IWW #theory #communism #libertarianism #libertarian #corporatism #wobblies #materialism #dialectic #communalism
@yogthos @heretical_i

What is stopping you from direct action, what is keeping you at bay from freeing yourself of your chains?

#anarchist #directaction #discussion #qa #libertarianism

"Remember, Andreessen, Rogan, Musk, and Ramaswamy are each fabulously wealthy. They are in the top .1 percent (Musk himself is literally the 0.00000001 percent, because he’s wealthier than everyone else in the world). Together, they have fabricated and laundered a story about the federal government’s consumer watchdog agency in order to justify destroying it.

But that agency, as I’ve written before, is dedicated to protecting ordinary consumers like you and me from the predations of the rich and unscrupulous, i.e., people like Marc Andreessen. What does the CFPB do? It investigates companies that have engaged in deceptive, abusive, and unfair practices, ensuring they treat their customers fairly. What kinds of practices? Well, have a look at their website, where they list all of their enforcement actions. CFPB victories include getting banks to get rid of or reduce overdraft fees, and pursuing Wells Fargo for “misapplied payments, wrongful foreclosures, and incorrect fees and interest charges,” resulting in billions of dollars being returned to customers. The associate director of the National Consumer Law Center has said that the CFP “has completely changed the consumer financial marketplace. Overall it has had a tremendous impact on making it more fair and transparent.”

This is the work that Andreessen calls “terrorizing” financial institutions."

https://www.currentaffairs.org/news/billionaires-are-lying-shamelessly-to-convince-us-to-destroy-our-government

#USA #Trump #Musk #CFPB #Libertarianism #AnarchoCapitalism

"A lot of the money and people in such places come from Silicon Valley. Consider Próspera, a private town in Honduras, financed in part by funds backed by Andreessen, Thiel and Sam Altman. Here businesses can create their own bespoke regulatory frameworks, entrepreneurs can run wacky medical trials free from Food and Drug Administration standards and citizens are protected from crime (though presumably not the white-collar kind) by a private firm of armed guards. Its goal says it all: “building the future of human governance: privately run and for-profit”.

That might well be the Trump administration’s mantra, too. But investors should remember that techno-libertarianism often peaks before a fall. In 2006, Richard Haass, a former George W Bush state department official, wrote a piece arguing for corporations to be elevated to near nation state status. Companies such as Microsoft and Goldman Sachs had a role to play in “regional and global deliberations”, as the “near monopoly power” of states was eroded.

The great financial crisis made that notion both passé and politically toxic, at least for a time. Now, we are about to see what private monopoly power in the guise of government looks like. I wonder how long the dream — or perhaps nightmare — will last before the world once again wakes up."

https://www.ft.com/content/13cc2796-6e91-4002-92e6-3a31cf2dfeb3

#USA #Trump #TechnoLibertarianism #Libertarianism #Privatopia #SiliconValley #Monopolies

[thread] Brendan Carr

* lawyer
* served as member of Federal Communications Commission (FCC) 2017+
* appointed by Trump
* authored chapter in Heritage Foundation's Project 2025
* Carr proposes "reining in Big Tech" as main goal for FCC
* Nov 2024 Trump selected Carr to lead FCC

#BrendanCarr #HeritageFoundation #Project2025 #FCC #NetNeutrality #censorship
#Trump2 #GOP #fascism #authoritarianism #disinformation #Christofascism
#capitalism #corporations #billionaires #libertarianism

[thread] Competitive Enterprise Institute
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Competitive_Enterprise_Institute
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Koch_family_foundations#Competitive_Enterprise_Institute

* libertarian think tank
* seeks limited government, free enterprise, indiv. liberty
* promotes climate change denial
* opponent of EPA policies lim. greenhouse gas emissions
* funders incl. Koch Foundations

See also (Charles Koch ...) [thread] Existential threat of billionaires
https://mastodon.social/@persagen/113346390093945554

#CompetitiveEnterpriseInstitute #CEI #CharlesKoch #billionaires #libertarianism #ClimateDenial