Those are very good points. I haven't stated my own personal views. I think I'd call myself a kind of disaffected libertarian. I don't use the L-word much anym

Those are very good points. I haven't stated my own personal views. I think I'd call myself a kind of disaffected libertarian. I don't use the L-word much anymore because it's been twisted and debased just like every other word in political discourse that used to mean something. I'd say I'm disaffected because I've sat here for a few years with my mouth hanging open watching a large number of libertarians put on Nazi brown shirts without blinking. That's a little weird given that libertarianism is supposed to enshrine ideas like voluntarism and equal rights. It makes me doubt the basic functional integrity of the human brain. I also kind of consider myself a liberal, but like the other L word I don't use that much anymore either. It's also been debased to the point that it basically doesn't mean anything. Put those words together and pretend they mean something and you could say I'm a voluntarist who is skeptical of authority, believes in minimal government and decentralization, but also believes our goal should be to improve the condition of the world for conscious beings. That means I'm willing to entertain the possibility that consistency on libertarianism might at times merit compromise in favor of a higher consistency on topics like basic human dignity and well-being. I think health care might be one such case. Extreme environmental problems might be another. The inverse is also true from time to time. There are times when we must tolerate awful things (child porn on encrypted networks, money laundering with cryptocurrency, gun violence if we are free to own guns) because the only other practical options on the table involve too great an intrusion into liberty and personal autonomy or tend to lead to a slippery slope where further intrusions are inevitable. As such I can find plenty to dislike on both the left and the right and there are definitely "onions" on the left. But the alt-right is something else entirely. I have never in all my years on this planet seen a more repulsive and vile political movement. I consider the movement evil, and I think this is the first time in my life I have ever actually used the E-word to describe anything in the political realm. I have a tough time thinking of any left-wing movement that's quite as bad and that has more than a tiny handful of followers. I guess totalitarian communism might work but when I scan across the Internet I am not met with countless totalitarian communists sporting anime avatars spewing memes adorned with Lenin and Stalin quotes praising gulags. I really think you just have to disown people like that, especially if you have associations and positions that might label you as a supporter. It's the political ideology equivalent of having a best friend who turns out to be a serial murderer. People are going to ask questions.