Episode Details

In this episode, Simone and Malcolm dive into the complexities of conservative ideologies, focusing on the differences between libertarians and traditional conservatives. They explore why many conservatives identify as libertarians when they're young but shift to the Republican party as they age, and discuss the pragmatic reasons behind this change. The conversation also delves into the disconnect between the Republican elite and their voter base, the influence of theocratic factions within the party, and the diverse range of conservative thought across various conferences in the UK and US. Join them as they unpack the nuances of cat girl conservatism, conspiracy theories, and the right to non-conformity.

Malcolm Collins: [00:00:00] most conservatives I know go through a change where when they're younger, they identify as libertarians. And as they get older, they identify as Republicans. Why does this happen,

would you like to know more?

Malcolm Collins: I am excited for this episode. So I just got back from New Hampshire where I was speaking at a libertarian convention. And I had an absolute blast doing it.

Really great community. And one of the things we're going to Back to you later in this conversation is the different types of conservatives and the different ways that they interact. We got to meet with a conservative group in the UK where we were at a convention. Then we spoke with a convention in New Hampshire.

Then we spoke with a general conservative, like uncanceled sort of event in Vegas the weekend before. And then recently, you know, we spoke at the oh yeah, you've been talking to a lot of like conservative voters and stuff like that in the district. Yeah.

Simone Collins: Just like door knocking on Republicans

Malcolm Collins: houses.

So we've gotten this really broad and unique exposure and then we've got the pronatalist convention and then we've got like the broadly EA conservatives and stuff like [00:01:00] that. Which is just, they're nothing like each other. They see the world, nothing like each other and being at this libertarian event, a few things happened that made me really reflect on this one.

Somebody said, and this is a regular watcher of our show, you know, like an interacted fan. Oh, I had no idea that. You guys would consider your policies libertarian or you think that they would pass as like libertarian within libertarian groups. And this would be like, huh, I hadn't realized that we came off as so anti libertarian on this.

But then I also started to think about everyone I knew who was conservative when they were younger. And there's this insistent phenomenon within conservative circles, where as we've discussed in the episode of like, do your politics actually change? No, for most people, their politics are stable throughout their life, whether it's conservative or progressive, at least.

But most conservatives I know go through a change where when they're younger, they identify as libertarians. And as they get [00:02:00] older, they identify as Republicans. If they have sense. So one answer is, is why does this happen, right? And then the other answer is. I actually think that a lot of, like, broadly, I think most you know, like, intelligent, engaged conservatives, if you were going to ask them, like, what policy positions they actually want, the policy positions they're often going to describe are going to sound very libertarian in nature.

And that leads us to the episode's title question, which is why are libertarians the worst and yet write about so many things, if not almost everything, from a political standpoint? And I think that, and I'll just sort of start this, I think that part of the answer comes from the guy who said, Wait, you guys are Consider yourselves as having libertarian leanings.

And I was like, yes. In what way do you think we are