Trump's Revolution Against Libertarianism

A few decades ago, Frank Meyer essayed on the common origin of Conservative and Libertarian thinking.  That effort was given the soubriquet "Fusionism," even though Meyer did not like that at all.

...Meyer was not merely arguing that traditionalists and libertarians should tolerate one another and cooperate against a common enemy. His contention was that while they could differ in their emphases, a traditionalist had to be libertarian and a libertarian had to be traditionalist, or else each would be abandoning his own foundations. Meyer disliked the “fusionism” label precisely because it misrepresented his project as hammering together two different materials....

Now comes Nathanael Blake of The Federalist, who apparently re-states the Meyer thesis.  Along the way, he underscores why Trump's stock is rising with most of the citizens of the USA--and why Trump is opposed so ferociously by the old Ruling Class.

...Astute libertarians (or classical liberals, for those who prefer that label) recognize that political liberty has cultural prerequisites. We are born neither free nor rational, but come into this world dependent and lacking in reason. Care and instruction are necessary for us to attain even some freedom and rationality, along with the virtues needed to exercise them well. As wise Americans proclaimed since the founding of our nation, only a virtuous people is capable of sustaining self-government.

The often-tenuous conservative-libertarian alliance has rested upon this truth, with conservatives recognizing the potential for large, unrestrained government to corrode a healthy culture, and libertarians aware that limited government is dependent upon cultural antecedents that promote and protect the virtues required for self-government. Practical libertarianism requires strong families, churches, and communities, which provide stability, a sense of belonging, and the moral instruction that enables self-government....

Blake points out the problem with cartoon-Libertarians such as those found at "Reason" magazine and--recently--in such places as Turning Point USA, which is actively agnostic about religion.

...The libertarian challenge is not of establishing government via social contract. Rather, it is to cultivate people capable of sustaining self-government, a task that is complicated by libertarianism’s official indifference to family formation, moral instruction, drug use, and other social factors essential to the development of citizens capable of flourishing in a libertarian regime.

And here's where the Tucker/Trump economics thing comes into play:

Furthermore, because it has no place for economic solidarity, libertarianism sabotages itself economically as well as socially. The doctrinal imperatives of open markets and (often) open borders deny the existence of any national “We the people” who ought to be considered in economic policymaking. Libertarians cheer the “creative destruction” of the global market’s economic devastation of communities and regions. They believe those who cannot compete in the global marketplace must evolve or die — find a new line of work or move elsewhere.

Thus, libertarianism corrodes family, faith, and community through economic and social pressures....

Libertarianism of the cartoon variety was a very effective tool of the Oligarchs, who joined hands with the War Party of NeoConservatives and the Mil-Industrial complex to nearly bankrupt the country and (also nearly) turn its citizens into drones.  Drugs, Sex, Rock-n-Roll--and winner-take-all, suckers!!

It was one Hell of a good time until Trump came along and asked "Why"?