The official blog of the Libertarian Party
September 28, 2006
Putting Things Into Perspective
One of our long-time members from California paid a visit this past morning and it was refreshing to be able to sit down with a fresh face for a few minutes to hear his perspective on society and government.
Essentially our conversation boiled down to this: as individuals, most of us live our lives in a libertarian fashion.
We do not initiate force (although sometimes we get upset and talk about it), we respect one another's property, we don't steal, don't defraud and try not to break the laws of man and the government.
People acting on their own ARE libertarian.
Now, why, as a whole, do we accept such anti-libertarian behavior from our government?
Maybe that's the wrong question but you be the judge.
It's an interesting and honest viewpoint that was shared with me and if presented in the right form, it could open a few eyes to our libertarian message.
Feel free to share your thoughts.
Posted by Shane Cory at September 28, 2006 07:30 PM
Reader Comments:
Yes, and women even more so than men. It's enlightened self-interest; "what if I lose?"
What's lacking is foresight and the ability to follow proposed political solutions to their logical conclusion. It's as if people acting as individuals only need a checkers mentality to understand what's in their own interest when acting alone, but need a chess mentality when voting for their own interests in group action.
They equate voting with a magic wand.
Both my parents were libertarian in their parenting styles and in life, but they vote Democrat and Republican (though experience and I are working on them).
We accept anti-libertarian action by our government because some people don't care about politics and some believe the government will do everything for them and somewhat. Our federal government can give free healthcare and welfare to millions of illegal aliens, but refuse to uphold their constitutional duty to protect this country by sealing the border with Mexico.
The only part on the immigration plank of the current LP Platform is it's opposition to penalizng employers that hire illegal immigration. Employers that knowning hire illegal aliens needs to penalized heavily. I am a Libertarian overall execpt immigration because I am heavily pro-border security
From everyone I talk to, they almost to a man agree with me as a libertarian. The number one and sometimes only reason they vote Rep or Dem is because they feel like everyone else will make the group decision to have one of them run the country. So, they choose the lesser of two evils. That's it in a nutshell and really very simple. I like this guy better than that guy. They don't even know they have other options, or they don't have the personal integrity to choose the person that actually would uphold their standards. They care more about choosing the winner than choosing the official that believes in the position they believe in or the values of the Constitution. Or they are brainwashed. Have you noticed that every year 45% of the country believes one of the two big scumbags is actually a good person and would be a good leader. Hasn't history taught us all that they are never good people nor good leaders because they operate as part of a self-supporting party, both sides spew the same greatness without ever having proven even mediocrity. It's unfathomable how people, friends, co-workers, and family that seem rational and smart actually believe their guy is good and the other is evil. When in reality they are never good and of course not truly evil, but just greedy or stupid. I need a nap.
The simply fact is this: The vast majority of folks LIKE having government do things for them and feel GOOD about government programs aimed at helping those defined as "less fortunate".
And, since in our day to day lives most of us seldom experience any real degree of government encroachment, and since big government - along with its exorbitant costs and taxes - wasn't imposed in a single day, but rather in a trickle, no one alive today knows what living under small government is like.
The Libertarian message is therefore most often met with a "but there's nothing wrong" response. Today's Americans just don't know any different.
I believe if we have a libertarian on a strong stance to do something about the illegals I think we could win people in high office. I am tired of hearing well my vote will be wasted on a libertarian. The illegals vote when they are not suppose to. They want to take back and not become citizens, there is a mexi-movement and everything that had happens confirms this. You let them vote they vote for their own kind which promotes for them not us. It is already happening.
"Illegal" is an adjective, not a noun. When someone uses it as a noun, it's a good predictor of prejudice on their part.
Sandra writes, "Both my parents were libertarian in their parenting styles and in life, but they vote Democrat and Republican (though experience and I are working on them)."
This brings up an interesting point I've been thinking about. I know a few libertarians who voted for Bush because Kerry was just so bad, and a few that voted for Kerry because Bush was so bad.
In other words, these libertarians cancelled out each others votes!
What did it achieve, voting for Bush and Kerry? Well, it raised Bush's and Kerry's vote-count, but nothing else. These libertarians would have been far better to simlpy vote libertarian, rather than wasting their time cancelling out each others votes on the lesser (or greater) of two evils.
Assuming your parents already generally agree with the premise of libertarianism, if your parents are just going to cancel each others votes out, encourage them to make a pact with one another to vote Libertarian.
We could all do this during the next election: find a Libertarian who's planning to vote Rep, find another Libertarian who's planning to vote Dem, and get them to agree to vote Libertarian instead, so that they're not really cancelling out each others votes anymore. Or, in the very least, get them to not vote. :)
Liberty21 writes, "Employers that knowning hire illegal aliens needs to penalized heavily."
We'll simply have to disagree.
VOTE LIBERTARIAN writes, "I believe if we have a libertarian on a strong stance to do something about the illegals I think we could win people in high office."
If you want to get rid of illegal aliens, the only way to do it is to deregulate immigration. The LP already holds the only logical stance toward getting rid of illegal aliens. :)
Yours,
Alex Peak
Membership Chair, College Libertarian of Towson
Towson University, Maryland
No doubt that the true libertarian stance is for open borders and deregulation. But the cold hard fact is that if the borders go unchecked, competition would be cutthroat and our culture and way of life as it currently is would be in jeopordy. It's not a nationalistic or racist battle but rather a cultural fight for a way of life.
Some people want to preserve freedom, others want to preserve their own Cultural supremacy.
We have just had a major, probably 200+ post, debate on immigration and cultural issues over at mises.org
The purist position, of course, is absolute open borders and freedom of migration. People should be able to live wherever they damn well please in the world. That is my view, btw.
However. I know that this view goes over like a sack of dead skunks with most people. So I don't bother to push it. It is just too controversial. The current situation, people flooding in and working illegally, will have to be good enough for the time being.
I like the Libertarian Party and what it stands for. Although I don't think we need to concentrate so much on taking the executive branch, the republican and democrat congress would eat the LP president alive and nothing would get done. We should be concentrating all efforts on getting us into congress before jumping for presidency.
Well, I favor open borders, but as long as we have a law we need to enforce it, otherwise what is the justification for enforcing any law? I sure know some people who think they should be allowed to kill who ever they want when they want.
It is absolutely what is stated before, 'people opt for the lesser of two evils because they want to make sure the one they hate MORE doesn't get elected'
Just curious, is it possible for the LP to endorse an independant, dem or rep candidate?
ZAP NAP is a great principle for running one owns life. It is a lousy principle for running governments and political parties. One can only properly act upon zap/nap on an individual basis. To extend the principle beyond the individual person level makes it impossible to have any government or to enforce the rule of law.
It's just fantasy play acting. The LP has to act and react on reality NOW, with the world as it is. It is politically impossible to reorder the world based on a singular principle. But it's not impossible to advocate limited Constitutional government. It's the only thing that is both politically possible and seperates us from the R's and the D's.
On Illegal Imigration:
The only logical stance is to seal the border. As A Libertarin and an American I support the right of all Citizens to exercise the freedoms we have fought for. I Fail to believe that I am responsible to take in and care for those who are unwilling to work or fight for the rights they deserve.
It is also not a good idea from a security standpoint to have totaly open borders. Securing the country from forign invasion IS actually one of the reasons we need and have a federal government.
I know there's no way there will be an end to the flood of illegal immigration coming to this country based on the enormous profit it provides to BOTH business and government. They work hand in hand to encourage this activity. The well know reason is the the employer gets off on the cheap by paying subterranean wages and no benefits, makes them work long hours, keeps out the unions and has that undocumented person kept a virtual slave. It also flattens native U.S. worker wages. Whatever the person has after expenses is sent back home to his/her family wherever he came from, usually Mexico. To get the job the worker provides a bogus social security number which is never checked by the employer. As required by law the employer turns the deducted social security money into the government. Here's the second but lesser known reason. Because the worker is here illegally you know he/she is never going to claim any Medicare or Social Security benefits down the road because of the bogus SSN. Therefore ALL of that UNCLAIMED money, which has run into the million (or billions), reverts back to the government, but not plowed back into the fund. Could it be lining someone's pockets or paying for that brand new BMW (or more?) by an employee at the Social Security Administration? The government does NOT want these illegals to leave the country because they have a gravy train going on with ALL of the illegals' unclaimed money. Think about it my brother and sister Libs.
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Yes, and women even more so than men. It's enlightened self-interest; "what if I lose?"
What's lacking is foresight and the ability to follow proposed political solutions to their logical conclusion. It's as if people acting as individuals only need a checkers mentality to understand what's in their own interest when acting alone, but need a chess mentality when voting for their own interests in group action.
They equate voting with a magic wand.
Both my parents were libertarian in their parenting styles and in life, but they vote Democrat and Republican (though experience and I are working on them).
Posted by: Sandra at September 28, 2006 08:59 PM