Horseshoe theory is perhaps one of the most valid theories out there today. The one common uniter of lesser-subscribed to political ideologies (in America, anything other then conservatism, progressivism, and populism) is that they attract a lot of people dissatisfied with the status quo.
Leftists/socialists and libertarians have quite a few things in common, like hatred of cops, but for different reasons.
"Many of the bitterest group resentments stem in part from the unconscious realization that those other horrible people over there remind us a little too much of ourselves." This is very true, we hate people who are somewhat similar to us but have different views. Reminds me of this gem: https://slatestarcodex.com/2014/09/30/i-can-tolerate-anything-except-the-outgroup/
"The similarities between socialism and libertarianism begin with a shared foundational assumption: that people are fundamentally decent and rational."
I don't think I agree that this is the dominant view amongst Libertarians at all. Surely it is for some of them, but just as many of them view people fundamentally as complex animals that are motivated primarily by incentives and disincentives. Which is to say, neither inherently good or evil, but capable of both given the appropriate circumstances.
They view the state as incentivizing evil more than it does good, and vice versa for the free market.
Libertarianism also has greater tolerance for variance in human behavior and desires where it allows for other systems (even a Socialist microcosm) to exist within it so long as everyone in that system is there by consent. In a stateless society, if 200 people in an area want to get together and decide to centrally manage and distribute labor and resources amongst themselves, there is no one preventing them from doing so. The same is not generally true of a Socialist society.
I suppose the distinction I'm making is that a Libertarian society expects the inhabitants within would more often than not make decent and rational choices because the market has incentivized them to do so, whereas a Socialist society expects everyone to behave decently and rationally by their very nature in order to uphold the system.
Horseshoe theory is perhaps one of the most valid theories out there today. The one common uniter of lesser-subscribed to political ideologies (in America, anything other then conservatism, progressivism, and populism) is that they attract a lot of people dissatisfied with the status quo.
Leftists/socialists and libertarians have quite a few things in common, like hatred of cops, but for different reasons.
"Many of the bitterest group resentments stem in part from the unconscious realization that those other horrible people over there remind us a little too much of ourselves." This is very true, we hate people who are somewhat similar to us but have different views. Reminds me of this gem: https://slatestarcodex.com/2014/09/30/i-can-tolerate-anything-except-the-outgroup/
"The similarities between socialism and libertarianism begin with a shared foundational assumption: that people are fundamentally decent and rational."
I don't think I agree that this is the dominant view amongst Libertarians at all. Surely it is for some of them, but just as many of them view people fundamentally as complex animals that are motivated primarily by incentives and disincentives. Which is to say, neither inherently good or evil, but capable of both given the appropriate circumstances.
They view the state as incentivizing evil more than it does good, and vice versa for the free market.
Libertarianism also has greater tolerance for variance in human behavior and desires where it allows for other systems (even a Socialist microcosm) to exist within it so long as everyone in that system is there by consent. In a stateless society, if 200 people in an area want to get together and decide to centrally manage and distribute labor and resources amongst themselves, there is no one preventing them from doing so. The same is not generally true of a Socialist society.
I suppose the distinction I'm making is that a Libertarian society expects the inhabitants within would more often than not make decent and rational choices because the market has incentivized them to do so, whereas a Socialist society expects everyone to behave decently and rationally by their very nature in order to uphold the system.