A Bipartisan Crisis Leads America to Look for New Answers

Is one’s personal freedom more important than the freedoms of another? This question is the corner stone of the Libertarian Philosophy, all based on the idea of a man being completely sovereign from the iron grip of governmental control, and the belief that the sacrifice of man’s values shouldn’t be a part of the prerequisite for a free and prosperous government. Underlying this philosophy is the faith in humanity’s ability to interact with others in a way that is peaceful and trustworthy in the absence of government and its authoritarian power. This political party is made of a loose amalgamation of political philosophies with one central creed of promoting and upholding “Liberty.” Libertarians want to enhance the freedoms of the people and autonomy from the government has led many Libertarians to become skeptical of the government’s role and its intentions. They also believe in an economic philosophy known as Laissez-faire Capitalism, in which transactions between private parties are free from government involvement such as taxes, regulations and tariffs.

The main idea of Libertarians is personal freedom, the right for the individual to have the final say over his life and what actions they can take with that life. In the preamble to the libertarian platform, the party itself sums up its basic tenets on the official website:

“As Libertarians, we seek a world of liberty: a world in which all individuals are sovereign over their own lives and are not forced to sacrifice their values for the benefit of others. We believe that respect for the individual rights is the essential precondition for a free and prosperous world, that force and fraud must be banished from human relationships, and that only through freedom can peace and prosperity be realized. Consequently, we defend each person’s right to engage in any activity that is peaceful and honest and welcome the diversity that freedom brings. The world we seek to build is one where individuals are free to follow their own dreams in their own ways, without interference from government or any authoritarian power.“

For me, this is where the problems begin with Libertarianism, though I’m not against the idea of liberty. It is too idealistic and puts too much faith in the average individual to do the right thing or, more accurately, what they see as the right thing, which is where the problem lies. Libertarians believe you should pay as much tax as you want, and that you shouldn’t be forced by the government to pay more. They profess the belief that in a truly free state the people would have the choice to pay taxes or not at all without having to worry about consequences like repossession or imprisonment. This philosophy substitutes the security of the people and of the nation for individual freedom.

“Those who would give up essential liberty, to purchase a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety.” – Benjamin Franklin

The Libertarian approach was tried with the Articles of Confederation, which was the first form of government in the United Sates. It resulted in a very weak government which prioritized the rights of each state and didn’t enforce taxation. It produced a situation where a smaller state, such as Rhode Island, was willing to help the nation, whereas a larger state like Virginia wouldn’t pay or paid very little.

This is my problem with Libertarianism: the personal freedom is a great idea on paper, but on a larger scale it leaves room for corruption because of lack of government regulation. I see it as inevitable for things like corruption and monopolies to form. The United States government has made three laws to prevent the formation of monopolies. The Sherman act of 1890 regulates competition among enterprises. The Clayton act of 1914 outlaw’s anticompetive practices, and was further enforced by the Federal Trade Commission Act of 1914. These government regulations help to halt companies from forming monopolies with use of cease and desists orders to curb unfair trade and punished companies for breaking their own polices or for using false advertising on their products.

So, what’s the takeaway? Even though Libertarianism is a flawed political philosophy, as they all are, it is also a host to many ideas that I believe we should implement in the United States. With the regard to the decriminalization of prostitution, for example the party states: “We assert the right of consenting adults to provide sexual services to clients for compensation, and the right of clients to purchase sexual services from consenting sex workers.” The legalization of prostitution would add jobs to the workforce. In the addition the International Relations plan of the Libertarian party has some great aspects, such as their national defense policy. “We support the maintenance of a sufficient military to defend the United States against aggression. The United States should both avoid entangling alliances and abandon its attempts to act as policeman for the world. We oppose any form of compulsory national service.” The part about policing the world needs to be toned down in that other nations should be able to defend themselves from attack, but the presence of the United States must remain a super power upon the world stage. It is important that the United States helps to maintain its presence on the world stage while helping to lessen the amount of capital that is needed to help defend other nations.

Overall, Libertarianism is a flawed ideology which may nonetheless have an important role to play in breaking the two party system, and hopefully open the elections to more diverse range of voices.