“Who doesn’t love the smell of libertarianism in the morning?” Stephen J. Dubner asks. Since coming to work for a free market thinktank, I have to say I’ve been ensconced in it. And surprisingly, happily. While I cannot seem to let go of an unshakeable belief in some of the things that I believe a government should provide for, I have to say there is something very appealing about the true relationship that a government and its people must have when it comes to respecting personal choices and oh, say freedom.
So, libertarianism — would you be my happy medium?
Ron Paul, arguably its most vocal champion, has had a history of proposing the most audacious solutions (like getting rid of the Fed and taking a “non-interventionist” bare-bones approach to foreign diplomacy) that would never in a million years really fly in the real world, but I will give him this — maybe there is merit to proposing the crazy, if after taking a long, hard look at the foundations of this country, one finds that the current state of government compromises much of the true liberty promised to its people.
I suspect it may be as my mom fears — I’ve gone soft on liberalism.
* * *
Ron Paul on Sarah Palin –
At first, I thought it was a pretty savvy choice from a political perspective. I also knew that she had said some nice things about me in the past. At the same time, I knew that to be on the ticket, she would have to toe the line on foreign policy and the war, so that tempered a lot of my enthusiasm.
Filed under: libertarianism
