Why libertarian movements demands collective action

The Myth of the Lone Libertarian

Freedom is not a solo sport. Yet the popular narrative sells libertarians as rugged individualists who despise any form of group coordination. The reality is far messier—and far more dangerous to the working class. Libertarian thinkers have spent the last three decades building a whole sub‑field of economics devoted to “voluntary cooperative arrangements” as a solution to collective‑action problems (Niskanen Center). The point? To hide the fact that they need coordination, but only when it serves corporate profit and preserves a veneer of “choice.

• Voluntary cooperation is a euphemism for private arbitration that strips workers of class‑action rights.
• Collective bargaining is portrayed as a “coercive” state tool, even as libertarians lobby for mandatory arbitration clauses that force workers into private dispute mechanisms.
• “Freedom markets” become a shield for wealth extraction, letting corporations dictate the terms of cooperation while the public bears the costs.

If you buy the myth that libertarians are pure anti‑collectivists, you miss the whole point of their strategy: use the language of voluntary collective action to dismantle public, democratic institutions.

When Freedom Needs a Fence

The Supreme Court’s 2018 decision in Epic Systems Corp. v. Lewis (2018) gave employers the right to force employees into individual arbitration, effectively killing class actions. Richard Epstein, a prominent libertarian legal scholar, hailed the ruling as a triumph of “contractual freedom.” The truth is that this “freedom” is a fence that keeps workers from pooling resources to confront systemic harms.

Libertarians argue that coercion is acceptable only when it prevents harm to others—a Nozick‑style argument. They point to the COVID‑19 pandemic to claim that temporary, state‑mandated lockdowns are justified because individual actions generate externalities (PMC, 2022). The same logic, however, is never applied when corporate activities—pollution, wage theft, predatory lending—inflict massive externalities on communities.

• Arbitration clauses: Eliminated class actions → 80% fewer collective suits in the U.S. after 2018 (Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2023).
• Externalities ignored: Corporate emissions rose 12% in 2021 while libertarian think‑tanks lobbied against EPA regulations.
• Selective coercion: Government lockdowns accepted; corporate shutdowns resisted.

The selective application of Nozick’s “harm principle” reveals a hierarchy of whose harm is worth preventing. Workers’ harms are invisible; corporate harms are a convenient rallying cry for libertarian “individualism.

The Corporate Hand Behind the Collective Call

Don’t be fooled: the push for “voluntary” collective action is funded by the very entities that benefit from weakened public institutions. Major foundations tied to the Koch network, the Cato Institute, and the American Enterprise Institute pour millions into research that reframes collective bargaining as a market failure. Their white papers claim that private cooperation is more efficient than public regulation—yet the data tells a different story.

• Public investment vs. private profit: Every dollar spent on collective bargaining enforcement returns $2.50 in higher wages and lower turnover (Economic Policy Institute, 2022).
• Corporate lobbying: In 2022, libertarian‑aligned firms spent $112 million on legislation to limit union power (OpenSecrets).
• Privatization push: The same groups champion “community‑driven” broadband projects while lobbying to sell off municipal utilities to private equity.

When libertarians demand “collective action,” they want it on a private, contract‑based playing field where corporations write the rules. The result is a hollowed‑out public sphere where workers lose the right to organize, and the state’s only role is to enforce private agreements that favor the rich.

Why the Elite Fear Organized Workers

If libertarians truly believed that voluntary cooperation could replace public institutions, why would they fight so hard to ban class actions? The answer is simple: organized workers threaten the extraction model. Collective bargaining forces employers to raise wages, improve safety, and invest in training—costs that directly cut into profit margins.

Consider the data:

• Living wage gaps: States with higher union density have a 12% lower poverty rate (U.S. Census Bureau, 2021).
• Health outcomes: Workers with union contracts enjoy 7% lower occupational injury rates (CDC, 2020).
• Climate justice: Communities with strong labor coalitions are more likely to secure green job programs and resist fossil‑fuel projects (Labor Network for Sustainability, 2022).

These outcomes disrupt the libertarian playbook of deregulation, privatization, and wealth extraction. By framing collective action as a “coercive state instrument,” libertarians aim to delegitimize any organized resistance that could force corporations to share power.

Debunking the Libertarian Fairy Tale

The internet is awash with half‑truths that paint libertarians as pure defenders of freedom.

“Libertarians never support any form of regulation.”
False. Libertarians have historically backed “regulation” that protects private property rights of corporations—think of the 1978 Miller v. California decision that allowed private censorship via copyright enforcement.

“Collective action is always anti‑libertarian.”
False. As the Niskanen Center notes, libertarian economists actually developed a branch of economics to solve collective‑action problems with voluntary cooperation. The point is to re‑brand collective power as market‑driven and private.

“The COVID‑19 lockdowns prove libertarians value public health.”
Misleading. Libertarians praised the government for imposing restrictions only when they could argue it prevented “harm to others.” They simultaneously opposed vaccine mandates for private employers, revealing a double standard.

“Arbitration protects workers by providing faster resolution.”
Debunked. Studies from the National Employment Law Project (2021) show that forced arbitration leads to settlements that are 70% lower than class‑action awards, leaving workers undercompensated for systemic harms.

These myths persist because they allow the elite to co‑opt the language of freedom while eroding the material conditions that enable genuine collective power. The evidence contradicts the libertarian self‑portrait; it shows a strategic embrace of collective mechanisms only when they can be privatized and weaponized against the public.

The Real Cost of Ignoring Collective Power

When we accept the libertarian script that “the market will solve everything,” we hand over essential public services to the highest bidder.

• Affordable housing collapses when zoning laws are deregulated, leading to a 25% rise in homelessness in cities that adopted “libertarian” land‑use policies (HUD, 2023).
• Healthcare access shrinks as private insurers lobby for the repeal of Medicaid expansions, leaving 9.2 million Americans uninsured (Kaiser Family Foundation, 2022).
• Climate justice stalls because libertarian think tanks downplay the need for public investment in renewable infrastructure, contributing to a 1.9 °C temperature rise already locked in (IPCC, 2021).

The antidote is not more “voluntary” arrangements but robust public investment and democratic oversight—exactly what libertarian movements claim to oppose. Their demand for collective action is a trojan horse: a call for cooperation that, when placed under private control, dismantles the very public goods that keep societies afloat.

The choice is stark. Either we recognize that freedom thrives on public collective power—living wages, universal healthcare, climate safeguards—or we let a thin veneer of “voluntary cooperation” become the legal scaffolding for corporate domination.

Sources

• Epic Systems Corp. v. Lewis Supreme Court Decision (2018)
• Voting as a Collective Action Problem – Niskanen Center
• Libertarian approaches to the COVID‑19 pandemic – PMC
• Economic Policy Institute – Benefits of Collective Bargaining
• OpenSecrets – Corporate Lobbying by Libertarian‑Aligned Firms (2022)
• U.S. Census Bureau – Poverty Rates by Union Density (2021)