Posted by
mike from tucson on Saturday, September 02, 2006 7:52:25 PM
As an American conservative I've wondered about Libertarianism from time to time. Smaller government with less regulation, lower taxes, more freedom to do what one wants. Seems like a deal. But is that all of it? I don't know and I doubt I will any time soon. It seems that Libertarianism comes in more flavors than toothpaste. Not only do the Libertarians I read not agree on much but they don't seem to like people asking questions, especially about obvious problems with some of their popular ideas. Ideas like smaller government. How do you tell 300 million people the free ride is over? And begin the process of taking away their many government entitlements? Like Social Security, Medicare, free drugs, welfare, public schools etc? How do we get around without interstate highways, safe oceans and all the other things we have grown to accept from our rude old uncle? If the military is turned into a home guard, who keeps the latest nuts from inviting themselves across our borders, bombs at ready? Can we all be happy members of some loosely knit system of bucolic farming fiefdoms? Or small villages of handcrafters? Can we Live simple lives without challenges? (At least until the fiefdoms down the way get together and and attack us.) I doubt it. So what then? ....Lately I've been reading more and more hate filled rantings by authors on what are represented as Libertarian web sites. Full of bombast and accusations using all of the cliche's we generally ascribe to democrat liberals. Can they represent the core of the libertarian party? Why should I embrace a political philosophy that tells me I was a fool for serving in the military? That giving one's life for an 'only imagined' free America is worse than stupid, it's criminal? That these harbingers of classless utopia know so much better than any dumb kid heading off to Iraq that he's being hoodwinked. That he's just cannon fodder for a uncaring cabal of power-mad neocons. Does this not smack of elitism? I thought Libertarianism doted on the individual. On freedom to choose what to with one's life. Should that not include fighting for one's ideals? Were Sgt. York, Audie Murphy and thousands of other American heroes truly fools for their heroic actions? Did patriotism really die in the early 19th century? Or has something happened along the Libertarian way? An inbreeding of hate and intolerance.