The Libertarian Framework

Libertarian Irony

The irony of the libertarian philosophy is the core idea of unfettered individual freedom.  The problem with the concept is that without a structure and framework to ensure individual liberty is preserved, such a society would certainly devolve into anarchy where the strong makes the rules over the weak.  There are plenty of examples throughout history and modern times where the breakdown of one tyrannical or dictatorial government results in the formation and replacement by a new form of dictatorship.  In the absence of political and legal structure, people seek to control their environment and other people for their own benefit.  The strong compete against each other or form alliances until biggest, baddest one emerges to take control over everything.  The novel “Animal Farm” by George Orwell written in 1945 comes to mind.

When the Founding Fathers of the United States met to discuss what form of government the new country will take, they were mostly libertarians in their outlook.  They wanted little to no government involvement in their everyday lives.  However they understood that without a framework and structure to protect individual liberty, eventually a strong central figure would ascend into power for better or worse.  To prevent this, they created the three branches of government giving them each equal powers (aka checks and balances) to prevent the other two from becoming too powerful.  The Constitution which they framed and the subsequent Bill of Rights were written to memorialize individual rights in such a way as to limit the ability of government to infringe upon individual rights.  In many ways, it is the US Constitution that has kept Americans free the past two centuries and actually helped the of spread freedom throughout the world as countries emulate the American framework to varying degrees of effectiveness and success.

Freedom Under Pressure

Our sense of individual freedom is now under pressure from multiple directions.  We have a new generation of young people who have been indoctrinated by the public school system to believe that government control and socialism is the answer to all societal issues.  Every problem and shortage can simply be legislated away.  There are also the career government employees and politicians who depend on a larger government for their own career stability and income growth.  Case in point, despite the advancements in computing and technology the number of government employees and contractors continue to grow while still operating on fax machines and bureaucratic policies.  Efficiency and productivity is the enemy of bureaucracy and they are avoided like the plague by government aparatchiks.  The continued growth of government results in higher taxes and more regulations to justify its existence.  These in turn reduce freedom.

The Swamp

We have a new affluent class, these are the people that either directly work for the government or makes money off government spending.  If anyone has driven through Washington DC lately and taken note of all the brand new marble-faced luxury apartments and condos and the cafe’s full of well dressed young professionals and their expensive cars will understand that there is a new social class in this country.  Keep in mind not a single thing in produced in our nations capitol except words and none of it results in any actual products that goes to the people.

The term used by President Trump to describe this ecosystem that lives off our federal tax dollars is “The Swamp” and it runs very deep.  The swamp threatens our civil liberties as the swamp creatures dependent upon an unending and ever increasing stream of tax dollars to support their ecosystem create the very rules and regulations to benefit larger government.  Because there is no requirement to be efficient with our tax dollars, the swamp continues to grow.  The swamp creatures will protect their swamp at all costs for it is their livelihood that is at stake, never mind that their livelihood is the theft of work and toil of American citizens.  Libertarians are an anathema to both the establishment GOP and Democrats and if there is one thing both parties in the swamp agrees, its that Libertarians are a threat to the swamp and its ideals must be subverted, made irrelevant and ridiculed.

Criticism of Libertarians

It is easy to discount libertarianism.  The Libertarian Party (LP) today is a freak show of extremists and incoherent ideology.  There are those who want all out anarchy and others who want legalization of all sorts of vices and drugs.  The LP platform is a hodge-podge of general statements about liberty but no realistic or workable proposals that ordinary people can get behind.  Indeed it is very hard to get people excited about the idea to “vote for us and we will leave you alone”.  The meme to the right here is typical of the attacks on libertarians by all sides to include the establishment swamp, socialists, progressives, etc.  In essence, the criticism is that libertarians don’t want to live in a modern society that most are comfortable with.  For some extremists, this criticism is true but for most libertarians, this is not.

Towards a Libertarian Society

Liberty cannot exist without a society and a government that protects and nurtures it.  Anyone who claims to be a libertarian but wants no governmental rules or regulations at all is really an anarchist and is missing the point.  The LP says that they seek to “Maximize individual freedom while minimizing statist incursions through a non-violent principle” is fine from a theoretical perspective but how does it actually translate into real policies?  What the LP party should define is what areas of government should get focus and funding and what areas should be minimized as it infringes upon individual freedoms.  Clearly the answer is finding the right balance of government control and individual freedom and not to abolish government.  The problem of government growth can be controlled in two ways, reduce the taxes it receives and force upon the government requirements to demonstrate efficient use of our tax dollars.  Scarcity cannot be legislated away and there should be gatekeepers to prevent frivolous new laws on social issues (bathroom genders, cake baking, etc.).  There should also be mechanisms to regularly remove old laws that no longer serve the public.  Liberty must be continuously protected and any and all regulatory actions must be assessed for their impact on individual freedoms.  Government should continue to serve the people and not the other way around.