Progressive Libertarianism

It is often that I find people regularly misunderstanding where libertarian types are coming from when they make statements about their positions on limited government and the way in which government should be structured. Often there isn’t enough clarification on our “libertarian” end, which leads to confusion about why we support the positions we do. With that, I’d like to give a simple overview of how libertarians tend look at society and the government that “oversees” it.

Let me start with the biggest of the bunch, the federal government. Most people likely have a pretty clear cut view on where people such as myself stand on this monstrosity, that being it’s too big, too expensive, and too overreaching in power. The federal government should be more geared towards keeping the peace between the states, ensuring that states aren’t infringing on civil liberties, managing the military and border, and managing relations with other countries. Nothing more is really needed at this level, the rest of the issues can and should be dealt with at either the state or local levels. This helps to prevent a lot of corruption, political handouts, and general waste at the federal level, and allows people to focus much more of their energy on their local political institutions where their efforts will be the most effective. Also, the state and local governments are better equipped to serve their people than the federal government, since they are closer to the people and have a better perspective of local issues.

The state governments should be concerned with any social programs the people of a certain state may want to implement, the structuring and final authority of civil and criminal laws, the state guard, education, districting, major roads, parks, and the implementation and overseeing of regulations on businesses. Much of what the federal government currently does could be more easily and effectively handled here, not to mention that the constitution leaves many of these regulatory powers to the states anyways.

Local governments should be concerned with maintaining local roads and areas, zoning laws, ordinances, and what types of business and activities can be conducted in their areas. I’m sure there are bits and pieces I’ve missed, but the jist of it is here.

While I don’t necessarily agree with many of the things that governments do, this is the structure which best serves the people. Basically, a very light overhead at the federal level keeping the pieces together, which allows states to compete with one another in policy for their respective territories, while ensuring that people at the core local levels get a say in how their immediate surrounding area functions. This allows a lot of choice to people, in that they can live in an area that they deem best suitable for their chosen lifestyle.

Libertarians believe in the principle that government which governs least, governs best; a government that ensures that people are free to do as they wish, so long as their actions do not restrict others from doing the same.

When it comes to regulating businesses, regulations should do two things and two things only. First, businesses should be required to give full and accurate information to consumers on the products and services they consume, and second, that businesses are held fully accountable for any negligent actions. The government fouls a lot of things up and makes it very hard on small and medium businesses and keeps the big businesses on top by trying to direct traffic, rather than just ensure that those who do wrong, are held accountable for it.

Accountability is all that is needed in order to assure a natural rise of order in business dealings. We only shoot ourselves in the foot by giving preference to certain businesses through government granted power. A business succeeds because they provide a good service or product, because people want it to succeed. This isn’t how our system currently works though; it is designed to serve the biggest while keeping the competition at bay through regulation and subsidy. Businesses that perform badly and should fail are being kept afloat by government interventions, effectively rewarding bad behavior and punishing consumers.

When it comes to our personal lives, we shouldn’t be getting the government involved in what the people next door are doing, so long as their actions aren’t infringing on the rights of others to do as they wish as well. If you don’t like what someone does, take the civil route and talk to them about it, explain your reasons, and hope that what you say to them persuades them to your side. If it doesn’t work, well that’s life, and no one is ever going to completely agree with one another. It just doesn’t make sense to fine people or throw them in jail for doing things that aren’t harming other people, just because you don’t agree with them. I think we can all agree that “might makes right” is a bad thing.

Another thing I think we can all agree on is the fact that most of us work hard for our money, we earn it through hard work and dedication, and don’t like to see it taken from us. It is a given that taxes are a necessary evil, however that doesn’t mean that taxes should be rampant. It cannot be denied that taxation is simply, theft. We’d all be a lot better off if taxation was kept to the bare basics needed for a functioning government.

Government is slow and inefficient, and no one is going to agree with how their tax money is spent beyond the basics of society. The best way to ensure that the money intended to go towards helping people is to let people decide for themselves which charities their money goes towards. We are a charitable people, that cannot be denied, and we are great because we are generous. It would be ignorant to believe that without government sponsored welfare, help for the needy would dry up. Sure it wouldn’t be quite as easy as it is now to just get a check in the mail from the government, but is that really what we want our society to be? We would be much more involved with one another, a much more tight knit community, a people flush with humility, if we relied on one another directly, rather than through the indirect means of government.

I’d like to touch on one last subject here, that being foreign relations. We should be working at all times to tend our own business and establish positive ties with every country in the world. Throughout much of our existence as a country in history, we have a track record of meddling in the affairs of other countries, which has caused a lot of blow-back. We need to focus on our own affairs here at home, neutral trade with the rest of the countries in the world, and keep our military on our own soil, not just because of the massive costs and wastes of deploying our military across the world, but because our esteemed members of the military deserve to be here at home with their families, leading productive lives, and standing ready to guard us should the need ever arise. There’s too much to cover in this topic for me to put it here, and it takes a great deal of knowledge about our history to understand why we are in the position we are right now. There is one thing I can say though, if we are indeed in danger, we must focus on security here at home, and keep our noses clean abroad. This is the only sure way to assure our continued prosperity and security. The best offense is a good defense.

Live and let live, be generous and understanding, and let your actions set a shining example, rather than force your will on others. Live by the principle of non-aggression towards others. Let there be peace and liberty for all, for that is the solution to a great deal of our problems.

Stephen Articles, PL Contributors