The Libertarian Folly of ‘Losing Is Winning’
29th June 2025
This is a post just to share a thought and guard against wishful thinking. The recent NYC primary election of privileged radical Zohran Mamdani has reminded me again of evidence of an often repeated folly of libertarians: the delusion that when once the public has experienced failed Leftist policies, they will all of a sudden be struck with self reflective insight, soon recanting past support of the failed policies, and then, finally, the newly enlightened public will support libertarian principles. An odd result of this line of thinking frequently suggests that it’s good if the others win because their failure will become a future victory. This thinking rests on the big assumption of effective and accurate feedback within a well-functioning process.
Now I’d like to state for full disclosure that I have sympathy with libertarian ideas and principles, and have been influenced by them throughout my life. However, the older I get, the more conservative I have become, and the less tolerance I find myself having with overly idealistic libertarians who are not fully plugged into reality and the way the world actually works. I think to be conservative, you must base your views, as best you can, on concrete truths and observed history and lessons learned from tradition. In this regard, libertarians fail. Soft Republicans also keep the libertarians company on this point more often than I’d like.
Case in point, the election of Zohran Mamdani. The WSJ has a new opinion article that describes the failures of the Democrat Party in NY, leading to the rise of Zohran Mamdani. So an even bigger progressive radical is required to fix the problems that the more mild progressive policies created. Yeah, right. Now, a conservative will look at the situation in NY, especially NYC, and think that it is becoming lost. To mitigate the downward spiral of NYC, a practical conservative would throw weight behind the besieged Mayor Adams (running as an independent) to fend off the truly fanatical Zohran Mamdani. From there, efforts could be made to help recover some conservative influence in governance. Or at least mitigate the awful. On the other hand, you get the libertarian types who want to see Zohran Mamdani because it will be so, so awful that it will inevitably lead to a libertarian utopia. The odds are slim to none, I say.
The essential libertarian mistake is in presuming that all adults are rational and both know and pursue their own interests.