Games

Ok, I think I you're saying that tech attracts self important people that self identify as libertarian.

The opposite is also true, in that it attracts self important people who self identify as socialists. Both think other people should follow their ideals because their ideals are obviously good for society. The difference is that the "libertarian" thinks they'll get more of what they want with fewer rules, and the socialist thinks that more rules (and the right people) is what's needed.

But I think you'll find that if you put either in power, they'll make similar changes (at least on the libertarian to authoritarian spectrum), but they'll both justify them as being "good."

The problem, imo, isn't with a specific ideology, but the self importance that causes them to openly push their political opinions in a setting where that just doesn't apply, like a workplace. Unless you're working in journalism where your political biases could impact your work output, it's just not relevant.

public choice theory

At a certain point you trade market failures for government failures, or vice versa. The bigger a government gets, the more susceptible it is to special interests. The smaller it gets, the less effective it is at correcting market failures.

Libertarianism, to me, isn't an end goal (there is no libertarian utopia), but a direction that attempts to solve problems with more liberty rather than less. Sometimes it'll misstep, and sometimes it'll look like the two major parties, but the approach is usually the same: how can we solve a given problem with more liberty rather than less.

And that's the difference. Conservatives want to solve problems by preserving some set of values, and progressives want to solve problems by adding some new government service.

And yeah, there are a lot of questions to resolve, but they'll be addressed from the perspective of liberty. Public choice is certainly one of those problems, and it's at least partially resolved by libertarian paternalism, but again, it's a process instead of a destination.