Sunday, April 24, 2005

Why I am a Libertarian (sort of )

Basic answer, cogito ergo sum, (I think, therefore I am.)
No, that is too simplistic. There are many reasons that I became a Libertarian. First, I grew up in Montana. It seems to me that the Democrats do better in high density population centers, and Republicans do better in less poplulated areas. I think that this is because when you are alone, you have to be more self reliant out of necessity. You can also do pretty much what you want when you are all alone. Just so long as you don't scare the horses.
In higher density population areas, there is a greater need to control other people's behavior. If you figure that most laws are directed at 5% of the popluation, and you only have 40 people in the vicinity, you really only have 2 people who are problems. Multiply by 1000, and now you have 2000 problem makers for 40,000 people, a small sized city. Same ratio, but with news systems designed to titilate and scare you, the 5% are getting far more than their share of the attention.
Therefore, some well intentioned, but busybody sort, will propose laws to control the 5% so that they can feel good about themselves.
A classic example here is the speed limit that we now have. As you may recall for about two years, we were without an actual speed limit. We were called America's autobahn. When the law came into effect, everyone was warned about the future carnage on our highways. Trouble is, the highway death rate actually dropped. Then some idiot named Stanko, decided to challenge the Basic and Prudent rule, and our Supreme Court found that the law was too vague.
So, the Legislaure, decided that we needed to reinstate the speed limit. Proponents of the speed limit bill said that it would save lives when it was passed. Trouble is, death rates jumped significantly.
So, did anyone say, wait a minute, we need to save lives, let's repeal the speed limit? Nope.
So what are we to learn from all of this? That the desire to control other people's behavior is more important than actual results.
Having spent my entire adult life defending the Constitution, I really do believe that the Bill of Rights is the most important part of all our laws, and can be summed up as: "Leave me the f*** alone."
So, now we have the Democrats, whose freedom of choice only extends to abortion, but not what I drive, or what I eat, or what I say. And Republicans, who can be just as controlling on the other side.
Liberals, that I know, think that Conservatives are evil. Conservatives, think that Liberals are stupid. I think that they are both half right. Liberals are stupidly evil, and Conservatives are evilly stupid.

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