No, I’m not talking about hard because of other people; I’m talking about hard to live true as a Libertarian.
There are two prongs to the hard:
- Hard to live libertarian in a world with all these socialistic programs
- Hard to live libertarian because there is always something of the socialistic or progressive programs that you want to keep
Addressing point #1, when the system has social security, medicare, medicaid, child care tax credits, etc., to not use them when they are available is to put oneself at a disadvantage. Yet having the programs is against your belief in small government, and using them continues to aide and abet, and make oneself dependent upon.
Addressing point #2, the easiest trap to fall into is to be libertarian about most things, but your one pet project you are a progressive. I think about roads and commuting. I use my bicycle, and make common notes to myself about things that aren’t maintained well. The bike lane is often the refuse lane; the bike lane has recessed manhole covers and other obstructions; they put the bike lane half in and half out of the curb concrete. But If I want these maintained I am calling on government to do all this stuff, maintenance that costs regular expense. How much government do I want?
True, my example is a local issue: unless I get a federal program or state program to support it, then I’m back to my big issue. But either way, it is a real question.
In other areas, the social programs swallow people up. An autistic adult who just needs a little intervention to get into a job has to be filed through Social Security and be labeled disabled to get any assistance. This adult has to be dumped into everything, instead of being given the limited amount of assistance to make the difference.
The danger is often in doing too much, and not too little. Our assistance creates dependence. And when government does too much, it excuses people to do too little.
Libertarian dilemmas.
At The Rainbow 