I have to apologize. I know I haven't published anything new in a while, but I've been extremely busy lately. My uncle and cousin just left town yesterday, so I was trying to spend as much time as possible with them while they were still here. Also, I just started a new job on Monday at Amazon, and it has left me quite drained.
Anyway, I've been reading about libertarianism recently and find myself intrigued. Most of what I'm learning is (surprise, surprise) economics-related since I'm reading Milton Friedman's seminal work Capitalism and Freedom. Mr Friedman is a Nobel laureate in economics and a well-known libertarian. His economic writings focus on his belief that government should mostly stay the heck out of capitalism's way.
I must admit that I've always found libertarians a little quirky. I mean, how successful can a political ideology be when you don't believe in (much) government? Well, anyways, I always found the idea of less government not to my liking. But after reading through some of Friedman's work, I began to examine why I had always thought less government was bad. The answer surprised even me.
You see, the best answer I could come up with was that the current amount of government didn't seem to be doing a good enough job, so we must need even more government to fix what the current inept government was doing. Well, as you can see, that sounds downright backwards. I mean, what kind of thinking is that? Even though we can't do right with what we got, let's just add more and hope that makes it all better. That's like trying to cauterize a wound with a candle, only to resort to a flamethrower when the candle doesn't work. In the end, you end up with a delicious fried meal, but the solution didn't work at all. Instead of growing government (and it is huge!), maybe we should try to scale back somewhat and try to make do with what we have, make it more efficient and effective.
So maybe those crazy libertarians aren't so crazy after all.
AUTHOR'S NOTE: I am still not wholly convinced. I do believe in more government and regulation than what most libertarians want (as far as I've read), but I'd love to hear from someone who is libertarian and could argue their point.
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I think what libertarianism does best is survival of the fittest.
Don't wanna wear your seatbelt? Sure, whatever. If you kill yourself before you can have children, all the better.
I would agree with libertarianism in that if you want to do stupid things, as long as you don't endanger other people, you're ok. It's when you start saying things like "It's my right to be able to drink and drive" that the government steps in and says, "Uhhhh, no."
But I would also agree that the government is way too bloated right now. Cut it down, cut it down! Slice it up! Some of the departments are wholly unnecessary. But you've known me for a while, the small government, states rights first kid in school. A true blue, traditional conservative liberal. :D
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