Musings on Libertarianism...

The following was inspired, in its entirety, by seeing a town vehicle, marked "Town Of *place name* Electrical Inspector" drive past me, as I was returning from dropping my children at school. 
Funny, how the mind works...

I have long considered myself a devout Libertarian. That description can be very confusing to some. Understandably so. (If you follow the above link, you'll find a Wiki entry that covers every color of the word.)
I thought I would take a minute to help define exactly what my particular set of beliefs are.

FAIR WARNING: This will be a very 'stream of consciousness', and/or 'train of thought' kind of post that will seem to ramble. If things go well, those ramblings will direct you to the unified set of ideas that will help you understand the purpose of this post. (I hope) So please, bear with me.

This country, and the war that gave it independence, was based on a set of principles that included individual freedoms as one of the most basic promises to the governed. Aside from that, there were certain protections from forceful coercion, either by foreign governments, fellow citizens, or other entities, commercial, religious, or political. This included the execution of contracts that were obviously, and demonstrably unfair to one of the contractually bound parties. (It was a way to protect the uneducated and uninformed from predatory practices. Something even the Forefathers could see was one of the possible outcomes from a Capitalist society.)

The paradigm has shifted, considerably, over the centuries. To use a phrase I had originally thought was  of my own invention, it could be described as having moved toward, and entirely into a Barnum-ist economy. (Barnum famously having said: 'There's a sucker born every minute.") People and corporations will take advantage, at every opportunity, of people's ignorance to turn a profit. Best exemplified by Barnum's famous "This Way to The Egress" sign. The ignorant (Notice, please, that I am making a distinction between "ignorant/uninformed", and "stupid".) would see the sign, and think there was some exotic display on the other side of the door, when in fact the word Egress was just another way of saying "Exit". There was no way to get back in to see the rest of the wonders without paying admission a second time.


Many years of insider deals, political misconduct, and just plain criminal activity by our elected officials has allowed this Barnumist attitude to become the norm. The Mortgage Crisis is the best example I can think of. I'm sure you can come up with your own examples, and I welcome them in the comments.

So, in the course of 235 years, we have progressed to this point. A point where the populace has taken to the streets in some of the biggest cities around the globe to protest.

Personally, I think that the protests are pretty cool, in that some people are not mollified by Bread & Circuses, and realize the need to speak out, if only to make other people aware of the problem.


Now, I had to explain Barnumism in order to provide the description of the "villain".
(A very recent, like minutes ago, discussion allowed me to see that we have moved past Barnumism, and into Walmart-ism, where entities exert financial, and political pressure in order to achieve wholly selfish goals.)

So, anyway. back to Libertarianism. Sort of.

After this nearly a quarter of a millennium, we have laws on the books forbidding the tying of alligators to fire hydrants, and the carrying of ice cream in the back pocket of your pants.
(Ok, ya. I know these are extreme examples, and they are purely on a State, or even Town/City level, but you get the idea I'm trying to get across.)

Really? I mean, really?

To me, personally, this best exemplifies the NEED for Libertarianism. Thousands of volumes of legislated "protections" for people and entities, when a very liberal estimate of 50 volumes would do.
Someone, I have no idea who, once said: You can't legislate morality.Someone else (The famous and prolific writer Unknown) said: You can't legislate stupidity.

And yet we have thousands of laws, around the country, that try to do just that. There are just as many, if not more, laws that try to govern the ethics of individuals and businesses.

My first instinct is to say, again: Really? I mean, really?

But, we're back to Barnumism & Walmart-ism. People, and therefore corporations which are run by people, will take advantage, at every opportunity, in order to get ahead. Face it. We've all done it, to some extent.

But, would we, as individuals of conscience, do it to the tune of a million dollars? A billion? Especially knowing the effect on the "fleeced" that it would have?
Some people will answer a resounding "YES!"

That's why the gazillion laws have wound up on the books.
And that is why we need to retain some protections, in law, for the citizenry.

And let's not even go into the Tax Code. There are degree programs at some very prestigious schools, just to deal with it... Seriously. A Master's degree, just to understand the Tax Code? Really? I mean, really?

There are many that feel Libertarianism includes a significant reduction in government, overall, as well as government's power over the individual.  While in principle, I think this is a good thing, there are some basic exceptions that need to be in place: (Here's the part where the Electrical Inspector had its influence on my thoughts)

Protections from the above described Barnumists, and Walmart-ists. Individuals, as well as those that represent corporate entities. (Including, unfortunately, builders of homes and commercial properties. Being people, they will sometimes take shortcuts, if allowed. Sometimes, to the detriment of other people. Up to and including placing those people at risk of injury and/or death.)
I suppose we could TRY to allow them to self-regulate, but that hasn't worked out so well in other industries, like those that produce food for human consumption.

Infrastructure. Roads and bridges, Emergency Services, Public Education, transport services for the aforementioned, as well as public transportation services. And, the previously mentioned Building/Electrical inspectors.

Protections from coercion, either through physical, or financial means. (This includes, if you think about it: theft, muggings, carjacking, extortion, racketeering, and all crimes of violence where you are coerced into surrendering life, liberty, personal security and/or property.)

Protections and support for those displaced and dispossessed by the current "normal" practices.
( I know, I know. How do you determine how long, and how much. We'll leave that for a later discussion. I, frankly, don't have the answer.)

We might, as a society, be ready to accept a nation without child labor laws, as we kinda sorta "know better" by now. ( I would like to think )

So. Up to this point we have reviewed Barnum-ism, and some of the points of my version of Libertarianism.

To sum up:
Eliminate the susceptibility to Barnum-ism, by education, and other means.

Spend the required time to eliminate the attempts to legislate morality, ethics and wisdom, thereby cleaning up the criminal codes. (Tell me that THAT won't create jobs...)

Remove and revise the tax codes into a more equitable and more easily understood form. (I don't have the answers here, either. Only suggestions. I do not have my Master's degree in Tax Law... But! I DO know that one cannot be assured of fair representation without being able to understand the tax codes themselves. I seem to remember something about "No Taxation without Representation")

Retain and restructure the government's involvement in the day to day minutia  of the governed. (more streamlined and MUCH less invasive, please. Do we REALLY need the TSA? Research the actual effectiveness of the TSA, and then be honst with yourself, and others, about it.)
This includes infrastructure.Unless employed specifically to build, maintain, and or operate infrastructure, the average citizenry won't have the time to preform the required work.
(We could take some of the burden off of the infrastructure by increasing funding to, and for volunteer services like some Fire companies and Citizen Police.)

My particular take on it is this: The government that interferes with the day to day life of the governed people least, governs best.

I will admit that I don't have all the answers. I can't honestly say that I have even a significant fraction of the answers. I wish I did.

What I do know is that I have lived by the following maxim: "Maybe I don't have the answer to that, but someone does. Lets find them!"

As always, I welcome your thoughts. Keep it clean, only attack the ideas, and be prepared to back up what you say with verifiable fact. Unless of course, you are claiming opinion, and willing to admit that it is just that: opinion.