What Libertarianism Means to Me
In my post last week, I discussed a quiz that showed where I landed on the political spectrum. Prior to taking that quiz six years ago, politics was an evil I wanted nothing to do with. The system was screwed and I couldn’t change it, so why bother. I had never even heard of libertarianism.
Discovering there was a group that had similar beliefs was pretty exciting, but first I had to make sure the test result wasn’t some sort of fluke. The way many of the questions were worded made them difficult to answer and I’m not sure how much an agree or strongly agree would change my placement. I checked the Political Compass’s reading list and delved into Ron Paul’s writings, Frederic Bastiat’s The Law, and my wife, who’s been libertarian since she discovered it in high school, gave me all her Ayn Rand books.
After just a few weeks of reading, there was no question I had found a philosophy congruent with my belief system. The only problem was that I was on the losing team. How could a movement gain any kind of following when the mainstream media does everything it can to ignore and ridicule it? The good news is that I’ve always rooted for the underdog, feel I’ve been one most of my life. Why not do it again.
After witnessing the last two elections, it’s pretty apparent that most people have misconceptions of what libertarians are, they just know they don’t fit nicely in the so-called two-party system. I’ve heard them accused of nearly everything and while I am by no means a spokesperson for the group, and there are many different branches of thought, I can explain what it means to me.
At its simplest, libertarianism boils down to increasing individual liberty by minimizing government and shifting any necessary government functions from the Federal to the local level. The government should be downsized as much as possible to get rid of the enormous inefficient bureaucracies that eat up so many resources. The economic market should be truly free and politically connected corporations should get no unfair advantages. Welfare should come from the individual, a much more efficient, and very plausible, system than what’s in place.
Very simplified look at the parties although it doesn’t seem as if the left has been anti-war for quite some time.
To me, it comes down to individuals being free to choose what they will or won’t do with their own body and property as long as it doesn’t harm another individual. Whether it be the bedroom, the food or drug you choose to ingest, or how you want to save for retirement, what right does anyone have to tell you what you can do? It is great seeing everyone up in arms about marriage inequality, but why stop there? How can you say the government shouldn’t force that decision on you, but they can make all the others? I’m over eighteen, I’ll sign the waiver saying I take full responsibility for myself and the decisions I make. I don’t need a nanny.
And for those of you that might argue that the government is a benevolent nanny that’s looking out for our best interest, save your breath. The government allows alcohol, cigarettes, and prescription pills which have caused more death and destruction than all illegal drugs combined. The government does not give one shit about your well-being except that it’d like you to be a good little wage-earner to support it. The drug war, and almost every other policy, is about money, always has been.
We also have no business interfering in other countries and participating in never-ending unjust wars. We should be able to use whatever currency we want. It’s why I’ll be adding Bitcoin to the new website store and would barter my books for silver pieces if it wouldn’t land me in jail. We should end the Federal Reserve. Kill the absolute worst-named Patriot Act. You can probably guess where I stand on guns. Disarming everyone would create a forced dependency on government, unions and corporations that profit from it and do nothing for our safety that the media would like us to believe is under constant threat. We’ve given away enough of our liberties and rights.
And as for freedom of expression. Absofuckinglutely.
The message of freedom has most definitely influenced my writing and I hope both Brightside and 25 Perfect Days will encourage people to question just how much liberty they are willing to give up.
‘With Liberty and Justice for all.’ It’d be nice if those were more than meaningless words.
Here are two UFC veterans, Matt Lindland and Roli Delgado, who I interviewed for my my MMA project, Unlocking the Cage. In these clips they talk about what libertarianism means to them.
And here’s a video where Adam Kokesh does a great job of stating the difference between libertarians and the two parties. Both Republicans and Democrats want to use the government to force the rest of the country to follow their preferences. How about we stop fighting over who we point that giant gun known as government at and start figuring things out ourselves.
