Libertarianism will always lose in the political arena.
Always.
Inevitably.
Every single time the Libertarian Ideal goes up against people who think the ideal way to run things is to have the power to run everyone's lives, it will lose.
As a man who does his best to avoid trying to exercise influence or control over anyone, I'll explain why:
Always.
Inevitably.
Every single time the Libertarian Ideal goes up against people who think the ideal way to run things is to have the power to run everyone's lives, it will lose.
As a man who does his best to avoid trying to exercise influence or control over anyone, I'll explain why:
I do my best to avoid exercising influence or control over anyone.
Most libertarians are a lot like me. We keep to ourselves, we mind our own business, we take care of our own problems, and we don't ask for help because we don't want it. We're social loners, or outright loners, but we're definitely not groupies.
Most libertarians are a lot like me. We keep to ourselves, we mind our own business, we take care of our own problems, and we don't ask for help because we don't want it. We're social loners, or outright loners, but we're definitely not groupies.
So, when it comes to conflicting ideologies in the political arena, and convincing other folks to see things our way, we're not the type to try to force anyone to do anything. We'd rather not use the federal gov't to make anyone do anything, something our ideological opponents see no problem with.
Actually, that's the problem, isn't it?
The folks who just want to be left alone to look after themselves will always end up in small, disjointed groups. The folks who think the answer is using one massive group that has all the power to make things happen their way will do just that. Davids want to be David, Goliaths want to be Goliath.
Actually, that's the problem, isn't it?
The folks who just want to be left alone to look after themselves will always end up in small, disjointed groups. The folks who think the answer is using one massive group that has all the power to make things happen their way will do just that. Davids want to be David, Goliaths want to be Goliath.
We don't have the power they do, we don't even want it. We'll never be able to match them, and if somehow we managed to accrue that much political pull, we'd never use it. It's anathema to what we believe in. We simply want to be left alone, while the other side wants the exact opposite.
Looking at it another way, libertarians are naturally rather ascetic folks. We're the modern, political version of monks. We want to live our isolated lives in our mountain monasteries (cityfolk would call them log cabins), pursuing our spiritual lifestyle of hiking, camping, and shooting things that are made of meat. We like hardship, and we like the product of what we put blood, sweat, and tears into.
Our opponents are the opposite. They're hedonists that want everything to be handed to them. They don't want to work, they want a big guy who will give everything to them, who will protect them from everything, and they absolutely don't want to deal with anyone who isn't willing to play along. When folks don't play along with them, they view it as theft, the way we'd view someone who breaks into our house and steals our stuff. If we're not giving our "fair share", then we're stealing from the "less-advantaged."
Looking at it another way, libertarians are naturally rather ascetic folks. We're the modern, political version of monks. We want to live our isolated lives in our mountain monasteries (cityfolk would call them log cabins), pursuing our spiritual lifestyle of hiking, camping, and shooting things that are made of meat. We like hardship, and we like the product of what we put blood, sweat, and tears into.
Our opponents are the opposite. They're hedonists that want everything to be handed to them. They don't want to work, they want a big guy who will give everything to them, who will protect them from everything, and they absolutely don't want to deal with anyone who isn't willing to play along. When folks don't play along with them, they view it as theft, the way we'd view someone who breaks into our house and steals our stuff. If we're not giving our "fair share", then we're stealing from the "less-advantaged."
I'd love to be optomistic about it, but the simple fact is that our ideology is not given to aggression. Hell, that's one of the selling points of the minarchist movements. No big gov'ts or big corps or big groups of any kind to step on the little guy.
Problem is, that's our downfall. We're the little guy, by choice, and we're just not big enough to resist getting stepped on.
Problem is, that's our downfall. We're the little guy, by choice, and we're just not big enough to resist getting stepped on.
