Are Libertarians the Greatest Threat to Liberty?

When I read We Are All Socialists Now article, which was cited by Reasonsjester, I stumbled upon Atlas Hugged: Why Mark Sanford likes Ayn Rand. I was genuinely surprised – why would a leftist rag like the Newsweek run a story that praises Ayn Rand? But then I thought better – I suspected that it is one of those panegyrics that turn out to be philippics at closer scrutiny. I was right.
The name “Mark Sanford” sounded vaguely familiar. I googled him and found out he’s the governor of South Carolina. I remembered that one or two years ago I had come across him while studying self-styled “libertarian” politicians. Back then I watched several videos featuring Sanford and was a bit disappointed – in one of them this alleged libertarian was speaking some bullshit at some environmentalist ceremony. Well, apparently he wants to have his cake and eat it too – be a libertarian and at the same time be involved in the unpleasant workings of the modern Leviathan.
Now it’s less surprising that he hacks for Newsweek, isn’t it? After praising Ayn Rand for the political and economic corollaries of her philosophy, Sanford goes on to attack the foundation of her ideas and thus destroy the root of those corollaries.
First, Sanford offhandedly repeats the usual accusation that Ayn Rand exerted dictatorial control over her followers and cites some grotesque “proofs” of that allegation reminiscent of the proofs used in Stalin’s show trials. Apart from the problem with determining the veracity of sources used, many people also have another problem with Ayn Rand – they implicitly think that any principled position is dictatorial by definition. Used to the modern world of relativism, compromise and pragmatism, they view any firm stand and any unflinching commitment as a sign of bias, dogmatism and fanaticism. Faced with the false dilemma of pragmatism vs dogmatism, they choose the former and, since pragmatism is rarely (or never) able to function in the “pure” form, they mix pragmatism with dogmatism, ending up upholding the very concept they professed to criticize. One of Ayn Rand’s greatest achievements was that she proposed a third alternative – that is, Objectivism.
Sanford then proceeds to criticize Ayn Rand for rejecting the notion of original sin and then falls into the abyss of altruism. The governor seems unable to understand that there can be no rational life or liberty once the concept of man as depraved and sinful by his very nature is stated. If human nature itself is stained, man is destined to bear the burden of unearned guilt and submit to any tyrant, divine or terrestrial, who “legitimately” punishes him for his sins. That is the problem with most libertarians today – they agree with Ayn Rand’s corollaries while rejecting her fundamental premises. There is no greater betrayal. Thus libertarians may paradoxically present the biggest threat to liberty, however bizarre it may sound.