Scott Alexander seems to be libertarian too, or at least he seems to like libertarianism more than any other political ideology.
Scott Alexander as in Anti-Libertarian FAQ Scott Alexander?
He’s a liberal. You probably think he’s a libertarian because there aren’t many liberals anymore—most of the parts of their demographic that ever show up on the internet have gone over to Tumblr totalitarianism instead.
(There’s probably a lesson in here about the Dark Arts: don’t call up what you can’t put down. You summon Jon Stewart, you’ll get Julius Streicher within a decade.)
He wants to update the anti-libertarian FAQ, but he isn’t sure he’s an anti-libertarian anymore
He feels like he is too biased towards the right and is looking for leftist media in order to correct this
These together imply to me that he favors libertarianism but idk, I could be wrong, I don’t think he has ever really come out and said anything about his concrete beliefs on policy proposals. He also seems to not dislike Ayn Rand and talks sometimes about the power of capitalism, iirc.
“[Some people] support both free markets and a social safety net. You could call them ‘welfare capitalists’. I ran a Google search and some of them seem to call themselves ‘bleeding heart libertarians’. I would call them ‘correct’.” [...]
“The position there’s no good name for – ‘bleeding heart libertarians’ is too long and too full of social justice memes, ‘left-libertarian’ usually means anarchists who haven’t thought about anarchy very carefully, and ‘liberaltarian’ is groanworthy – that position seems to be the sweet spot between these two extremes and the political philosophy I’m most comfortable with right now. It consists of dealing with social and economic problems, when possible, through subsidies and taxes which come directly from the government. I think it’s likely to be the conclusion of my long engagement with libertarianism (have I mentioned I only engage with philosophies I like?)”
This is still probably an oversimplification, and Scott’s views may have developed in the year since he wrote that article—in particular, his Moloch piece and exploration of Communism suggest he’s seriously considering autocratic views on the far left and far right, though he has yet to be won over by one. He likes meta-level views and views that can be seen, from different angles, as liberal, conservative, or libertarian—the Archipelago being a classic example.
I don’t think he has ever really come out and said anything about his concrete beliefs on policy proposals.
Scott Alexander as in Anti-Libertarian FAQ Scott Alexander?
He’s a liberal. You probably think he’s a libertarian because there aren’t many liberals anymore—most of the parts of their demographic that ever show up on the internet have gone over to Tumblr totalitarianism instead.
(There’s probably a lesson in here about the Dark Arts: don’t call up what you can’t put down. You summon Jon Stewart, you’ll get Julius Streicher within a decade.)
I’m pretty sure that he has recently said
He wants to update the anti-libertarian FAQ, but he isn’t sure he’s an anti-libertarian anymore
He feels like he is too biased towards the right and is looking for leftist media in order to correct this
These together imply to me that he favors libertarianism but idk, I could be wrong, I don’t think he has ever really come out and said anything about his concrete beliefs on policy proposals. He also seems to not dislike Ayn Rand and talks sometimes about the power of capitalism, iirc.
Scott identifies as left-libertarian, so you’re both right. Quoting “A Something Sort of Like Left-Libertarian-Ist Manifesto”:
“[Some people] support both free markets and a social safety net. You could call them ‘welfare capitalists’. I ran a Google search and some of them seem to call themselves ‘bleeding heart libertarians’. I would call them ‘correct’.” [...]
“The position there’s no good name for – ‘bleeding heart libertarians’ is too long and too full of social justice memes, ‘left-libertarian’ usually means anarchists who haven’t thought about anarchy very carefully, and ‘liberaltarian’ is groanworthy – that position seems to be the sweet spot between these two extremes and the political philosophy I’m most comfortable with right now. It consists of dealing with social and economic problems, when possible, through subsidies and taxes which come directly from the government. I think it’s likely to be the conclusion of my long engagement with libertarianism (have I mentioned I only engage with philosophies I like?)”
This is still probably an oversimplification, and Scott’s views may have developed in the year since he wrote that article—in particular, his Moloch piece and exploration of Communism suggest he’s seriously considering autocratic views on the far left and far right, though he has yet to be won over by one. He likes meta-level views and views that can be seen, from different angles, as liberal, conservative, or libertarian—the Archipelago being a classic example.
He cites Jeff Kauffman’s policy proposals extremely approvingly: “Please assume this, if not quite a Consensus Rationalist Opinion on politics, is a lot closer to such than what random people on Tumblr accuse us of believing.”. Since he thinks this is a very reasonable mainstream-for-rationalists set of proposals, he probably agrees with most of the proposals himself, or at least finds them very appealing.