The Bionic Mosquito on a Left Libertarian Contradiction

Now we are getting somewhere. The Bionic Mosquito has uncovered a fundamental tension in left libertarianism. Left libertarians say that they accept the Non-Aggression Principle, but they also maintain that various social attitudes of which they approve are connected to libertarianism. Libertarians, as libertarians, should in their view be anti-racist, in sympathy with feminism , etc. The Mosquito wondered whether left libertarians would support the right of a property owner to discriminate: what if, for example, a businessman did not want to serve members of a particular race? Sheldon Richman, a leading left libertarian, affirms that he is free to do so. Can we then let left libertarians, or at least this one, off the hook? Not so fast, the Mosquito says. Richman also claims that racist conduct is unlibertarian. The Mosquito quotes Richman: “Let’s get specific. Are there distinctly libertarian grounds for disapproving of racist conduct that does not involve the use of force? So I’m puzzled by the pushback whenever someone explicitly associates the libertarian philosophy with values like tolerance and inclusion. We don’t care only about force and its improper uses.”

The Mosquito finds this odd: “How can libertarianism include the freedom of non-association and at the same time be associated with tolerance and inclusion. A philosophy cannot so directly contradict itself without being considered bankrupt.”

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