I’ve been posting in various internet groups about libertarianism, objectivism, anarcho-capitalism, and figures such as Ayn Rand, Murray Rothbard, and William F. Buckley. I’ve encountered varying degrees of hostility from friends and strangers, largely because I refuse to “bend the knee” completely to any of these ideologies. For some people, questioning even one fundamental assumption seems to be interpreted as betrayal.

I recently discovered Eric Hoffer’s classic book The True Believer, and I’ve been thinking about it ever since. Hoffer examined the psychology of mass movements and the true believer: someone who becomes so completely identified with a cause, ideology, religion, or political movement that criticism of the belief feels almost like a personal attack. The true believer doesn’t merely hold an idea; the idea becomes part of his identity. As a result, evidence that contradicts the ideology can be dismissed, rationalized, or reinterpreted rather than causing the person to reconsider the ideology itself.

That helps explain something I’ve........

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