Has anyone noticed that some Europeans in socialist countries cannot even understand the concept of free market libertarianism? I am not a libertarian, but I find it odd knowing they cannot even conceptualize this kind of economic framework. In the US, mistrust of Government is historical. In these socialist countries it's seen as rude and disrespectful. Libertarians are right about some leftist having cult-like mindsets with naive trust in authority.
Anti Government is a social norm in the US, but in other countries it's viewed as evil. Why?
Which European socialist countries do you have in mind
@Contrast?
I cannot think of a country that is outspokenly 99% socialist in a cultural sense (socialist ideology that is deeply ingrained in all sorts of life), except for some outliers like Transnistria (run by people who still want to live in the Soviet era) and arguably Moldova.
But if we consider the importance of libertarianism in Western European countries like the Netherlands, I guess I can say some things about it from my local perspective.
Libertarianism has never been a force to be reckoned with in the Netherlands. That doesn't mean that most people here do not know what libertarianism is. For people who are politically engaged locally, they also get info about libertarianism (at least, that's my experience). Some are even aware that it is a complex ideology that consists of different strides (night-watchman state vs. anarcho-capitalism, for example). There is even a libertarian party that tries to win seats at every national election that has been held so far, but it has never won one. But why does the party never gained a foothold in parliament?
I think it has to do with people's trust in government, as you have said. On the other hand, it has also to do with the people who represent the libertarian party. In the first case, Unlike most libertarians, most people here are very sceptical about the concept of self-regulation at an individual level, as we have seen from history that companies seldom played a role in the forefront in improving working conditions, to name an example. We have learned at school that from a historical perspective government is the foremost agency to rely on to improve something collectively. If you need to get things done, you need to get into politics and achieve the ideals that you hold dear, or vote for someone who upholds those values. If we look at considerable changes in positive terms for people in the late 19th and first part of the 20th century, even liberal parties (were more social liberal att) were supportive of improving living conditions for people, like implementing a law against allowing children in the workforce in factories under the age of 12.
If we look at the libertarian party, we see some people who have quite serious beliefs, but are involved in things that most people consider abhorrent. Most Dutch people know that paying taxes is necessary to maintain the benefits of the welfare system and making things like health care affordable. As we know, not all libertarians are fond of paying taxes. For example, a former leader of the Dutch libertarian party was recently involved in embezzling money & bankruptcy fraud during his term as director of a tax avoider organisation, and he has also made deals with Mossack Fonseca on behalf of his organisation (transfer money to Panama without paying taxes). That kind of behaviour does not score political points in my country.
I do not know a lot of left wing people who have a lot of trust in authority, but I'm sure there are some people who hold that belief. I am member of the Dutch Socialist party and this party is heavily involved in extra-parliamentary actions against decisions of the government. Sometimes there are groups within the party that organise protests against decisions of the party. One example I can think of is the fuzz around the decision of the party to not go in full support of BLM.
Member
Soft drugs are legal, hard drugs (cocaine, LSD, heroine) are not (too risky in the way that people are more susceptible to addiction of hard drugs and because of the profound impact on health). We have a so called Tolerance Policy (Gedoogbeleid) that allows commercialisation of soft drugs under certain restrictions: only coffee shops are allowed to sell soft drugs, sell no more than 5 grams of soft drugs per person a day, selling soft drugs to under 18 years olds is not allowed, commercials for coffee shops are not allowed, etc. This policy is quite successful in that it significantly curtailed the power of gangs and criminal organisations.
