Oliver Stone, Ayn Rand Pop Art, and "Second-Wave Libertarianism"

What We Saw at ISFLC 2014

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Oliver Stone, Ayn Rand Pop Art, and "Second-Wave Libertarianism"

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Left-wing moviemaker Oliver Stone talking about his support for Barry Goldwater and Ron Paul. Student for Liberty's Alexander McCobin laying out the basics of "second-wave libertarianism." Pop Art-style portraits of Ayn Rand that the novelist would likely have condemned.

There was all that and more at the seventh annual International Students For Liberty Conference in Washington, D.C. Held February 14 to February 17, the event brought together thousands of interested students, activists, vendors, and others to talk about what libertarianism means for Millennials.

"I think the Barry Goldwater generation relied on a level of conservatism that still trusted the state…to enforce and give their ideas legitimacy," Leah Hughey of the Charles Koch Institute told Reason TV. "Millennials are independent thinkers and willing to think for themselves and to see that, 'I actually don't need the state to enforce my ideas for them to be true."

Reason TV's Swain talked with Stone, Hughey, McCobin, and others.

About 2 minutes long.

Shot by Amanda Winkler and edited by Joshua Swain. Interviews by Swain.

Scroll below for HD, iPod, and audio versions of this video and subscribe to Reason.tv's YouTube channel to receive automatic notification when new material goes live.

Comments

[Grand Moff Serious Man]

So is my Koch Brother decoder ring out of date? Because that video linked says it's private and thus I can't watch it.

[RBS]

Second Wave Libertarianism?

[Cytotoxic]

Left-wing moviemaker Oliver Stone talking about his support for Barry Goldwater and Ron Paul.

Did his support for Chavez and Maduro come up at all?

[Winston]

Or him comparing the Venezuelan protesters to the Tea Party and saying that Maduro was democratically elected so his crackdown is okay?

[paranoid android]

Whoa, he actually said that? Link?

[Ronny Paulino]

Saw it in a tweet which I am unable to link in this comment:

"Venezuela is a democratically elected government. These people who keep protesting are sore losers." - Oliver Stone to libertarian students

[CampingInYourPark]

"Venezuela is a democratically elected government. These people who keep protesting are sore losers." - Oliver Stone to libertarian students

Replace Venezuela with Ukraine and...wait a minute...Oliver Stone is posting on H&R!

[Winston]

http://panampost.com/fergus-ho.....ta-regime/

the opposition is increasingly behaving like the Republican Party here in the United States, where is it is trying to block, criticize, destroy any attempt at negotiation or trying to do business and get on with it. . . .

[paranoid android]

Jesus. I assumed most leftists were going to try to repeat what happened with Mugabe, where they just refused to mention or acknowledge their previous glowing support once his true nature became impossible to deny.

I guess Stone isn't most leftists, though. Has Sean Penn been reached for comment yet?

[Stephdumas]

Good question, but I guess Sean Penn will said "no comments". 😉

[CampingInYourPark]

Or him comparing the Venezuelan protesters to the Tea Party

I take it that he meant for that to be a negative thing, right? Sort of puzzles me a little. What exactly did the TP do to become a negative epithet?

[RBS]

For most on the left TP= Redneck bitter clinger.

[sasob]

= Bourgeoisie?

[Paul.]

What exactly did the TP do to become a negative epithet?

Criticize government.

[Fist of Etiquette]

"The older libertarians did a good job bringing people on the right into the movement, and now we're coming in and we're bringing the left in as well."

We'll just see about that. Once your little leftist friends find out that libertarianism means you can't force bakers through threat of state violence to make cakes for everybody, that will fall apart quickly.

[Brett L]

But Free Pot!

[The Last American Hero]

^ this. Oliver is about as Libertarian as Bill Maher, that is, an authoritarian that wants to be able to smoke a joint now and then without being harassed.

[RBS]

Does Maher even claim to be libertarian anymore?

[BardMetal]

I forgot all about that arrogant little prick claiming to be a Libertarian. Oh well is it any different then when Palin's buttboy claims the same thing?

[The Last American Hero]

Dude, he got a 94 on the purity test. A 94 - that's like Gary Johnson levels.

[Paul.]

You know who else got a 94 on the purity test?

[BardMetal]

Do they have to understand the movement as long as they vote for it?

I can't tell you how many socially conservative people I've met that bitch about welfare, but still vote democrat every single election.

If a bunch of dip shit leftists want to vote for Rand Paul I say go for it.

[sarcasmic]

Once those leftists learn that libertarians are wealth apologists, they'll quickly disassociate themselves.

[Winston]

Once they realize that libertarians intend to dismantle the welfare state and the regulatory state and not intervene in foreign affairs the way they want to they will not be happy.

[Caleb Turberville]

He wrote Scarface. That's about all the compliments I'm going to give Oliver Stone.

[Winston]

Well it was also a remake so he copied quite a bit from Ben Hecht and Armitage Trail.

[Jerry on the boat]

And directed Natural Born Killers. It's like with Tim Robbins -- don't like his politics, but he had some great performances.

[The Last American Hero]

I got news for the redhead - her freedom-loving generation is the one that voted for Hopey-Changey in about the same proportion as mine voted for Clinton. It was her generation that spawned the Occupy movement. If she thinks millennials are some kind of freedom loving libertarians, she's in for a rude awakening.

Oh yeah, and as for the girl who doesn't believe that they are going to turn 26 and become statists - guess when Obamacare ends your ability to ride on Daddy's insurance policy?

[alan_s]

There are a good number of millenials, including myself that have fully converted to the libertarian movement. Organizations like Students for Liberty are a good example of that. A lot of young people were a part of the Ron Paul movement.

Granted there are just as many that have been fully devoted to the Messiah, but I've even witnessed some of them come around to the fact that government is the problem and not the solution. Watching your Messiah continue with the same policies as your Enemy will do that to you.

[CampingInYourPark]

There are a good number of millenials, including myself that have fully converted to the libertarian movement.

My son claims to be a libertarian...or at least he's a RP fan. Big on legal pot, ending the fed, etc. He almost had me fooled until I was asking him about paying some bill I got for him in the mail, and he said:

"It's not my fault if my employer doesn't pay me enough for that"

Just have to shake your head at some things and walk away.

[John]

What kind of a nut supports Barry Goldwater AND Fidel Castro? Why does anyone care what this lunatic says?

[mtrueman]

I too find this highly disturbing. We should only care about the opinions of those who support Goldwater OR Castro. There are too many opinions anyway and any excuse to ignore one is welcome.

[Paul.]

He said he doesn't believe in Barry Goldwater anymore. I guess that means Stone doesn't support gays in the military. Funny that.

[Winston]

I would be more optimistic about the libertarian moment if fiscal responsibility was remotely possible in DC. However only a small minority of Republican congressmen seem to take it even remotely seriously and that assumes that all of those ones aren't doing for political purposes either.

[Winston]

So how come no one from Iran or the Taliban are invited to these things to air their grievances against Obama and US foreign policy?

[GILMORE]

Oliver Stone is a cunt.

That is all.

[Warty]

He added later: "Venezuela is a democratically elected government, and these people who keep protesting are sore losers."

Oliver Stone has become...unsound.

[Winston]

Become?

[Pavlov's Cat]

Pop Art-style portraits of Ayn Rand that the novelist would likely have condemned.

Yeah, well... I'm a big fan of her philosophy and I still think she was in desperate need of getting seriously laid. Yeah, I know about Nathaniel Brandon and all that. He and Frank und Der Kommissar clearly didn't get the job done.

[JeffreyinSandySprings]

Not sure I like this "Big Tent libertarianism" I think that a lot of core values are lost when you include big time socialists like Oliver Stone. Also, Libertarianism is requires a fairly large intellectual commitment that mindless ideologies don't. You actually have to think things out to their logical conclusion and not just rely on knee jerk reactions like we see on both the right and the left. It also takes disciple and a willingness to go against personal self interest.
This is why the greedy, gullible and/or lazy are not Libertarians.
Oliver Stone is intellectually lazy - his movies reflect that. They do not accurately reflect history rather "his version" of it. Good example is his portrayal of Nixon.

[mtrueman]

"You actually have to think things out to their logical conclusion and not just rely on knee jerk reactions like we see on both the right and the left."

It's not just thinking, a libertarian must suppress his emotions as well. Thinking things out to their logical conclusion is not possible as long as thinking is clouded by emotions and feelings. We see this all the time in non-libertarian thought.

[Tony]

Not sure I like this "Big Tent . . .

Well you share the country with hundreds of millions of other people, so learning to compromise would seem prudent.

[Redmanfms]

Well you share the country with hundreds of millions of other people, so learning to compromise would seem prudent.

Hahahahahahahaha, that's fucking rich!!!

[neoteny]

Come on now, Tony compromises all the time by not calling for the establishment of reeducation camps.

[mtrueman]

"Hahahaha"

A country of over 300 million people dedicated to preserving and promoting individual freedom is a bit of a joke. Have you got the joke yet, or was that something else you were laughing at?

[Edwin]

Did you even read the comment? Clearly he was speaking about an ideological big tent, not demographic one.

We libertarians ACTUALLY don't give a shit what race or sexorientation someone is. As opposed to liberals, who act like they're not racist but outright never really deal with people from different demographic sub-cultures.

[DC_36]

Compromise on some things works, and is fine - but some things cannot be compromised. Foremost on the latter list would be core values and principles.

How often can one compromise their honesty, before they're a liar? How much can good comrpomise with evil, before there is no good? How many times can you compromise your core values for popularity, before you have lost your claim to those principles?

Once you compromise your principles, you are simply a "pragmatist" and opportunist.

Funny how a lot of people think that showing their willingness to compromise is some sort of virtue.

We all learn as we go, and change our stances on things over time, but that is different than compromising.

[Johnimo]

Anyone who believes older Libertarians depended on the State to give legitimacy to our ideas is confusing reality for his own paradigm. Subsidized housing markets, segregation, drug prohibition, Social Security, Medicare, public education, NPR, and public libraries are just a few of the governmental institutions we have opposed for a lifetime.