In practice that’s a kind of “no true scotsman” argument though. Libertarians who actually believe in libertarian ideas are really pretty scarce (and I’d say they’re closer to anarchists in thought than most people, though potentially the cool kind of anarchist). Most self-described libertarians either want the government to regulate everyone but them, or they cluelessly take for granted the benefits of the way their world is utterly supported by non-market forces (the house cat analogy).

It mostly doesn’t matter.

If it’s a high-current, high-frequency, or low-noise circuit then maybe the inductance or resistance of those traces would matter, but they’re very short so probably not.

If you’re mass-producing it, then sometimes the reflow or wave solder process works better if the traces leave the pads in particular ways. You’d talk to your manufacturer about this.

If this is a hobby project, you’re overthinking it; arrange them in a way that pleases you!

Or he’s just getting really into the persona of an 1870s immigrant, who would have been using traditional characters anyway! Such attention to detail :D