Liberalism in the Balance: Deradicalizing the Center

The far-right won't just go away. We have to spot them and show them the door.

August 29, 2023

I made my debut at Liberal Currents today (hooray!).

A yellow pipeline against a blue sky in the desert. Photo by Ken Kistler.

I have been thinking for a while about the story of Derek Black, a white supremacist who was deradicalized in the aughts at the New College of Florida. His story spoke to the best and the worst in libertarians, and he gave us the context to know which we should emphasize and some clues as to how to move forward. I’ve been frustrated that libertarians didn’t listen.

When Richard Hanania was outed as someone who had deep ties to the far right, I was also reminded of Katie McHugh, whose story popularized the idea of a “libertarian to alt-right pipeline”. Libertarians, in my mind, responded well to the revelations offered by McHugh. When it went down, I was dismayed but reassured.

In the wake of Hanania’s outing, I am not so reassured. There is criticism, of course. But it’s not as united. It’s not as public.

We used to do better.

Libertarians and centrists have got to start listening to folks who escape extremist movements, and to the leaks that reveal the strategies those movements employ. We are part of their plans; we are vulnerable to their plans. They don’t ignore us, so we can’t ignore them. Dog whistles are supposed to be inaudible, and I don’t blame people for not always hearing them. But if we see all the dogs running in one direction, especially if it’s towards us, we should take note. 

I am still a libertarian (at least in ’s broad sense) and those are the spaces I spend the most time in. But the problem of laundering far-right positions has gone much more mainstream, affecting not just libertarians and the right but also the political centre (such as it exists under the political realignment).

This successful mainstreaming almost certainly has to do with the rise of Donald Trump, but it also has to do with a noticeable fracturing of libertarianism coming out the other side of the pandemic.

It is an issue, as my dearly missed friend Steve (to whom I dedicate my Liberal Currents piece) predicted, of liberalism in the balance.

In the fight against far-right, illiberal messaging, right now we are losing. But we don’t have to lose. These ideas have been defeated before. It is time to use the information we’ve been given and work harder. I hope that this piece offers a first step in asking the right questions about how.

What am I reading?

I’ve just finished a re-read of Zwolinski and Tomasi’s The Individualists, which I happily recommend. I will be sharing a review soon.

I’ve just picked up Elliott’s Democracy for Busy People and am excited about what I see so far.