Hoppeans argue that so-called “degenerate” behaviors are destroying society. They’re not entirely wrong—but they’re not entirely right either. If we examine the world’s wealthiest nations by GDP, we see something interesting: they tend to strike a balance between traditionalism and “degeneracy.”
Let’s be honest—GDP includes everything from sex toys, porn, and drugs to loud music and other stuff linked to fringe lifestyles. Yet many of these same countries still retain traditional values in some areas. They’re not bastions of consistent Christian values, but they’re not moral wastelands either. It’s a messy balance, but it’s real.
Here’s where the contradiction emerges: Hoppean thought still carries traces of the Frankfurt School (Hoppe was, after all, a student of Jürgen Habermas) and other leftist intellectual legacies, especially in its critique of modernity and mass culture. Today, it’s not uncommon to hear voices from both the old and new left say that the left and the right are just two wings of the same progressive bird—obsessed with economic and social progress. Both are about progressivism.
If we really believe in markets and voluntary exchange—the heart of libertarianism—then we must also accept that we can’t control every aspect of others’ lives. The very idea of libertarianism is that the state has no legitimate authority to police peaceful human actions, no matter how offensive they may seem to some.
Even within Hoppe’s “community of covenant” model, control is limited. You cannot perfectly regulate everyone’s behavior, even with strict entry rules. In democracies and dictatorships alike, some people break the rules, get away with it, or even thrive despite them.
So, if Hoppeans truly believe that degenerate behavior is what destroys society—and if they believe the state is what prevents organic communities from forming—then logically, wouldn’t they want to accelerate societal decay to bring about the collapse of the state and the birth of their preferred order that included their conservative values?
But they don’t. Instead of embracing accelerationism, many Hoppeans choose compromise. They tell others how to live, adopt cultural conservatism as a political strategy, and attempt to police morality rather than undermine state power.
That’s the contradiction: you can’t champion free markets and voluntary association while simultaneously trying to legislate or culturally mandate how others should behave. You either let people be free—or you don’t.
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