Intro
Matt Erickson of the Kingpilled show, and Cyprian (formerly Vin Armani) of Counter Markets were on Clint Russell’s Liberty Lockdown podcast recently. On the show, they aired their disagreements and thoughts about Comedian and Libertarian Podcaster Dave Smith, as well as their answer to the question whether the broader liberty movement should A: engage in politics and B: whether it should be done in the Libertarian Party in conjunction with the Mises Caucus (LPMC). I won’t be covering the entire conversation in this piece and everything that was said, Instead I want to focus on a one minute segment that went viral, and a tweet I sent out that got some play. Unlike my story about Stephen Crowder last week, this isn’t just internet drama. There are some principles worth discussing and an element of our humanity that is preventing an understanding between these personalities.
Here is the clip
“We just want to spread liberty. And I don’t know what that means, I don’t know what it means to spread liberty, liberty to do what? You don’t “have liberty” you “have the liberty to do something”. So what do you want to do that you can’t do right now? And lots of people will point to . . . like income they’ll go and say they want to not be taxed.
It’s not that you don’t want to be taxed, it’s that you want to have more money than you have right now. And when you’re being taxed it’s making you have less money, so why don’t you make more money? And they’ll take it, but why don’t you make so much money that taxation is an inconvenience? Or maybe you want, I want, to own xyz guns and I’m legally not allowed to do that. Ok, so then wealthy people can bypass all of these laws, so become wealthy and politically connected and you can do what you want. Or maybe you want to consume xyz drug, OK, where in the world can you do that? Go there.
My Tweet
If you think @realkingpilled [Matt Erickson] is “dumb” for arguing a solution to taxation is to make more money you’re purposefully not understanding him.
It follows that applying liberty means building wealth.
Cognitive dissonance is a bitch huh?
In retrospect, I likely wouldn’t have used the phrase “solution to taxation”, but it wasn’t really the crux of my point. With a tweet like this, I purposefully have layers built into the phraseology because I’m attempting to communicate a lot in 280 characters. The medium of Twitter limits what we can share, which means anything you say can1 be misinterpreted.
As I like to say if you choose ignorance, you can ascribe whatever context you wish to a situation. I for one, don’t choose ignorance.
Context
Just in case you didn’t know, libertarians regard taxation as theft. If you want to be civil about it you might instead say extortion or “anything beyond the necessary amount is plunder” if you’re a 19th century Frenchman. Your author for the record has a “Taxation is Theft” pillow proudly displayed2 in his front room that was given to him as a Christmas present. The other point in case you didn’t know is that libertarians are proponents of capitalism3, there is certainly more to libertarianism than these two things, but for the purposes of our conversation they are relevant to understand.
Secondly, Matt Erickson (kingpilled) is the co-host of Jason Stapleton’s Wealth, Power, and Influence where they discuss amongst other things how the best way to achieve Liberty in your life is to build what Jason will refer to as “nomadic wealth.” I give both Jason and Dave some of my dollars every month for the value they bring to me. I am a member of Jason’s Nomad Network, and the Gas Digital Network that Dave’s show is on.
In contrast to Jason’s approach, Dave has been organizing with Michael Heise and the LPMC to takeover the Libertarian Party, thereby continuing the “Ron Paul Revolution.” As he announced on the Joe Rogan Experience, Dave is thinking about running for president on the Libertarian ticket.
I’ve witnessed first hand the kind of hard-working, successful, and professional individuals that are choosing to get involved in a political party for the first time in their lives because they believe the “liberty movement” has something to offer the rest of the country.
Starting to see where there’s a divide beginning?
I have praised both Jason and Dave in the past for what they do, and I have been observing Matt’s observations over the last year or so with curiosity if not agreement.
From my perspective I do not see either position (organizing with LP, building your own autonomy) as prohibiting the other when you consider how broad a “movement” is by definition is.
So why is everyone getting mad?
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Cognitive Dissonance
Cognitive Dissonance according to Psychology Today [my emphasis]
“is a term for the state of discomfort felt when two or more modes of thought contradict each other. The clashing cognitions may include ideas, beliefs, or the knowledge that one has behaved in a certain way.
The theory of cognitive dissonance proposes that people are averse to inconsistencies within their own minds. It offers one explanation for why people sometimes make an effort to adjust their thinking when their own thoughts, words, or behaviors seem to clash with each other.
When one learns new information that challenges a deeply held belief, for example, or acts in a way that seems to undercut a favorable self-image, that person may feel motivated to somehow resolve the negative feeling that results—to restore cognitive consonance. Though a person may not always resolve cognitive dissonance, the response to it may range from ignoring the source of it to changing one’s beliefs or behavior to eliminate the conflict.”
Leaving aside the larger critiques against political activism inside of the LP that upsets many people, what Matt Erickson expertly does in the clip above that went viral is trigger the collective cognitive dissonance of a particular segment of libertarians. The reasoning goes something like this, if taxation is theft, then anything that possibly justifies taxation or doesn’t explicitly refer to it as theft is anathema. It literally goes against libertarian dogma.
Social media amplifies this, and a point that is fairly obvious to reconcile (you as an individual should make as much money as you can) is transformed to a statement of heresy. Remember, libertarians are capitalists which means they support the right of individuals to accumulate as much wealth as they can provided it’s done ethically. In another context most would have 0 issues with this idea, but when you say “It’s not that you don’t want to be taxed, it’s that you want to have more money than you have right now.” you become a villain.
The point
In all the responses I had to the tweet I posted above, no one addressed or asked for clarification as to why I wrote “Cognitive dissonance is a bitch huh?” This isn’t surprising as part of cognitive dissonance is that you ignore conflicting information, but it was surprising the degree to which people were completely misunderstanding the point being made in that moment. Perhaps the rest of the conversation muddied the waters too much, but the whole idea of pulling a clip is that what is being said in that particular moment is what’s at issue. The irony is that was one of the least contentious thing said from a libertarian perspective.
I started writing content and producing a show precisely for situations like this. I engage in better sensemaking which means I’m going to harmonize ideas when they cohere and reject ideas when they are discordant.4 The skeptical frame of mind that I endeavor to teach and demonstrate is a fantastic bulwark against cognitive dissonance, this is why skepticism is the beginning point of philosophy and what ultimately drives humanity forward.
Just make more money!
I get it, asserting that people should “stop being poor” or “make more money” seems overly simplistic. That doesn’t mean it’s wrong. I know first-hand how difficult it is to take a hard look at yourself, especially your money, and realize you are not where you want to be.
When someone reminds you that you’re not where you want to be? You will react emotionally because you are in fact emotional about the situation. I’m speaking from first hand knowledge as someone who only recently started making enough money to overcome the mountain of student debt I foolishly accumulated in my early twenties. To this day it is still a major trigger for my anxiety that I have to actively fight.
None of my moral proclamations against the legitimate injustice of the student loan crisis changes the fact that I have to make that payment every month.
Wallowing in my misery didn’t make anything better, you know what did?
Making more money.
I found a way, and you can too.
and will
yes, I’m single ladies
though some would say “free market”
aka wrong
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