Inefficient Market Hypothesis, or, How to Win Over The Geeks

Sort of as a piece with this, the incisive Amanda Marcotte at Pandagon writes:

Most "libertarians" I know of are straight men who like to fuck without making babies and therefore oppose the wingnut push to legislate the bedroom. But they don't oppose it in any meaningful way, such as supporting politicians who, you know, agree with their beliefs about personal freedom. Instead, they keep supporting wingnuts and relying on liberals to do their fighting for their civil rights for them.

And the worst part is that "libertarians" count on liberals for a good reason--we're not going to quit fighting for their civil rights just so they can learn a valuable lesson about laying down with wingnut dogs and waking up with Jeebus fleas. A part of me is touched by their faith that we liberals, with the help of the courts, can protect their rights. But now the power-hungry wingnuts are in power, and they seem dead set on taking away the protections that we all, libertarians included, enjoy. Not that I expect my warnings to make any difference, but I can enjoy a pre-emptive "I told you so".

I think what Amanda is missing here is that, in addition to fucking without reproducing, straight libertarian males also like people who Blow Shit Up.  Toughness is of a piece with the straight male libertarian ethos, usually because the adherents were beaten up in high school for being huge Star Trek nerds.  Joining the Republican Party and making scads of money in technology industries is their form of revenge, never mind that the Party is run by the same sort of jocky meatheads and alpha bitches who tormented them in their youth. 

As I've said elsewhere, and probably should have copyrighted, "High school never really ends, it just changes location."  Large chunks of human behavior can be explained by the desire for sex and status, and what happened to you in high school, which come to think of it, are all really the same thing.  For geeky white straight libertarian males, which without losing anything of importance can just be abbreviated to read "libertarians", high school was a painful mixture of a reality in which they were the lowest organism in every food chain and a private fantasy world in which they dominated everyone with their fierce, awe-inspiring intellects.  Today, these people blog and, in some high-functioning cases, teach law in Tennessee. 

The libertarian is thirsty for thrills and revenge, both of which were denied them in their adolescence, and only the Republican Party is set up to deliver them.  The GOP is the party of nuclear-tipped space-launched stealthy cruise missiles which can both swim and fly and can kill the intended target without mussing the hair of the people next to him, and only cost $100 billion a copy, never mind that they don't work.   The Democrats are the party of people who want to dismantle said missiles.  Not only that, but the Democrats are also the party of people of color, gay and lesbian people, people who do not speak English, disabled people, and university professors - despised minorities all, which remind the libertarians too much of their younger selves.  They want to live in a fascist Heinleinian state, with lasers and hot chicks, or at least pretend they do, which for them from long habit is the same thing anyway.

What the Democratic Party must do is undercut the GOP's science-fiction-based comparative advantage.  First, it must promote the right candidates.  Ladies and gentlemen, consider Picard/Data '08.  Yes, yes, I know neither are eligible to the Presidency, on account of foreign birth and being fictional, but these are minor details that can be swept aside with a pliant press - after all, they didn't say anything when a man with the intelligence of a small woodland creature was twice elected President and then dragged the nation into war under the barest of flimsy excuses.  Second, we must transform ourselves into the party of Killer Robots That Can Blow Up Other Killer Robots With Lasers.  Our strategy will be to disperse the robot and laser factories in low-income areas of major cities, divert the funding from places like Alabama and some of those other states in the middle of the country - I can never remember their names - and then stream the video of "tests" of competing robot armies over the internet.  No one will be killed, there will be full employment and high-tech job training, and campaign contributions from tech companies will pour into Democratic hands.  The Republicans won't stand a chance.  It'll be a rout.

Comments

[Bob Munck]

Hey! Some of us geeky straight white science/technology types are screaming liberals!

And watch what you say about Heinlein.

[Mithras]

Some, Bob, only some. Admit that most of your fellow geeky types are the libertarian variety.

About Heinlein, I don't know much except Starship Troopers. Which (a) proves I am not a real geek and (b) I should probably not admit when talking to real geeks.

[Ab_Normal]

Hey, I was a straight white *female* geek libertarian, but I grew out of it... ;)

[bitchphd]

Wait, when did you decide to be funny again?

[Mithras]

AN- That just shows the difference between the male and female variety of libertarian. Some read Ayn Rand and get over it; others are men.

[iocaste]

Truer words: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A45059-2005Apr11.html

[Jason]

This is an absolutely insane plan. Of course, given the party that we're going against, crazy is the only thing that might work.

But not Picard/Data, they represent a socialist system, I'm thinking Princess Leia Organa and either Han Solo or Luke Skywalker. Besides, if we ran Picard/Data, they'd run Darth Sidious/Darth Vader, and carry even the liberal geek vote (granted that would be truth in advertising...).

OK, I'm a Geek. So, who else is planning to see "Star Wars III: Revenge of the Republicans", err...oopsie, "Revenge of the Sith" on the first day?

[Mithras]

So, who else is planning to see "Star Wars III: Revenge of the Republicans", err...oopsie, "Revenge of the Sith" on the first day?

Uber geek.

But, um, did you know there is a new version of Buckaroo Banzai out on DVD?

[upyernoz]

Yes, yes, I know neither are eligible to the Presidency, on account of foreign birth and being fictional

actually, nothing in the constitution bars fictional people from being president. look at our current president

[Emma Goldman]

A new version? I have A version, but don't know whether that's the NEW version. (I LOVE BB, and have since it was released. Philadelphia friends pirated a copy for me as a going-away present when I left 19 years ago.)

[Mithras]

Well, I saw it advertised in a comic book, so take it for what it's worth.

[mags]

What a brilliant post. It definitely put a smile on my face!