I used to be a Kennedy-style "liberal." Then I wised up. Now I'm a libertarian.
But what does that mean?
When I asked people on the street, half had no clue.
We know that conservatives want government to conserve traditional values. They say they're for limited government, but they're pro-drug war, pro-immigration restriction and anti-abortion, and they often support "nation-building."
And so-called liberals? They tend to be anti-gun and pro-choice on abortion. They favor big, powerful government -- they say -- to make life kinder for people.
By contrast, libertarians want government to leave people alone -- in both the economic and personal spheres. Leave us free to pursue our hopes and dreams, as long as we don't hurt anybody else.
More.
Read through to the last lines because that is the crux of it for me.
Boaz indicts the welfare state for the untold harm it's done in the name of the poor.
"What we find is a system that traps people into dependency. ... You should be asking advocates of that system, 'Why don't you care about the poor?'"
3 comments:
Also note the important observation that before the welfare state, family played a large role in looking after the "poor and needy".
To that must of course be added that much charity and assistance was provided in the community, which was in turn made up of families.
Family thus played an important role, not only in its function of procreation and nurturing and as a platform from which responsible citizens were raised, but also as an important bulwark against an oppressive state. It is no wonder that collectivists and statists always start by attacking and degrading the role of family on the one hand, while creating dependency on the state on the other. Only a return to core values can restore a proper society that places individual freedom and pursuit of happiness above an all encompassing state.
I had a t-shirt once which read "There's no government like no government...unless its very very small." I bought it from the Libertarianz and wore it until it literally fell apart.
Cadwallader.
For a much better view of libertarianism just check out the recent Doonesbury cartoons in the Dominion Post.
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