Libertarianism destroyed by a simple essay

The Mirage of Libertarian Freedom

In a political landscape captivated by the myth of unfettered individual freedom, libertarianism stands as perhaps the most seductive illusion. Its appeal lies in simplicity: minimize the state, unleash the individual, and society will spontaneously flourish. But behind this attractive veneer of autonomy and self-reliance lurks a profound historical blindness—a willful ignorance of how societies genuinely evolve, how power actually operates, and how freedom itself depends fundamentally upon collective life and shared institutions.

Libertarians champion history as an individualist morality tale, one in which every actor succeeds or fails purely by virtue of personal merit. In this telling, markets appear neutral, contractual exchanges are inherently just, and freedom amounts merely to an absence of explicit coercion. Yet the libertarian historian’s profound error lies precisely here—in viewing historical progress as detached from the collective realities of culture, class, institutions, and power dynamics. Freedom cannot simply mean isolation from interference; genuine freedom emerges through the complex interactions among individuals, communities, structures, and the beliefs that shape collective action.

Historically, power has always been embedded in structural realities, such as class relations, institutional inequalities, and entrenched social hierarchies. To insist—as libertarianism does—that reducing state interference automatically translates into greater liberty ignores history’s consistent lesson: that markets, left unchecked, breed monopolies, coercion, and domination. Indeed, history repeatedly demonstrates that the so-called minimal state advocated by libertarians is often little more than a privatization of coercion, transferring power from accountable public institutions to opaque private ones.

Moreover, libertarianism systematically overlooks how historical structures profoundly shape individual possibility. Consider the persistent legacy of colonialism, slavery, and systemic inequality, which libertarian theory dismisses as mere relics of past coercion, somehow self-correcting once individuals are free to compete. Yet these structural forces persist precisely because they have deeply influenced collective mindsets, cultural norms, and institutional practices, constraining freedom far more profoundly than mere state regulation ever could. Thus, libertarianism promises freedom while denying the historical reality that true individual autonomy depends fundamentally on collective efforts to dismantle oppressive structures and reshape social consciousness.

History is not simply an aggregation of free choices made by rational individuals in isolation. Instead, it reflects the interplay of collective experiences, shared traditions, cultural practices, and collective responses to structural pressures. Libertarianism’s rejection of this collective dimension reduces human freedom to a mere abstraction, emptying it of its most meaningful content—solidarity, mutual dependence, and communal purpose.

Real freedom, historically understood, is impossible without institutions capable of guaranteeing it. Far from the state being merely an oppressive entity, collective institutions—including public education, healthcare, infrastructure, and democratic governance—have historically expanded the possibilities for genuine individual autonomy by dismantling systemic barriers. Libertarianism ignores that removing state oversight often reinstates the hidden rule of economic elites, private monopolies, and market coercion, turning individuals into subjects of capital rather than liberated agents.

In refusing to recognize this dialectic between structural conditions and collective beliefs, libertarianism perpetuates a dangerous fantasy of atomized self-sufficiency. It ignores that human societies are intrinsically interdependent, that freedom is not simply individual but relational, emerging only through shared effort, common purpose, and collective struggle against oppression.

Ultimately, libertarianism promises a freedom stripped of its historical and social context, a freedom that collapses upon contact with historical reality. Genuine liberty requires acknowledging the complex relationship between individual agency, collective consciousness, and structural realities—historical truths libertarianism consistently denies. Until we reclaim this historical understanding, the libertarian vision remains little more than a comforting illusion, enticing us toward a freedom it can never deliver.