>>Imagine trusting the "Market" to make wise decisions.

The market just means other people, free to act without compulsion.

It works because information is transmitted through local decisions, as the changes local decisions make to supply/demand impact the prices that are communicated to the economy at large.

The resulting price system is a result of more economic calculations than any central economic planner could perform, which is why more market-based economies outperform more centrally-planned ones, as the empirical evidence shows.

Anyway, libertarians as a group are the most educated:

https://www.people-press.org/typology/quiz/?pass&src=typolog...

The above shows they do also have the highest incomes, which would support your "they're trying to protect their privilege" theory.

And libertarians are the most rational:

https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal...

Libertarian views are more consistent with those of economists:

https://www.overcomingbias.com/2006/11/the_big_four_ec.html

I think this is far more likely because software engineers are drawn to arguments based on first principles over ones based on empiricism.

And the majority of libertarians arguments are both based on first principles and appeal to people who like this type of argument.