The lowercase libertarian

In today's political environment more and more people are identifying with libertarianism. This often confuses some when they look at the Libertarian party and it's members. To some extent the Libertarian Party has been hijacked by anarchist and communists. It would take an article unto itself to fully explain how communists find their way into the Libertarian Party. True communists believe they can create a libertarian styled society and replace government with some board of elders. They fail to see that the board of elders is simply government under a different name.

When we hear the term libertarian tossed around we must pause and look to see if they are a true libertarian. Capital 'L' libertarians are those who belong to the party and can have varying political beliefs. The lowercase 'l' are those like me who believe in all cases limited government is the best road to travel. We don't want the elimination of government or a major change in how government operates. We simply want less government and the right to self govern.

I believe the founders intended for society to operate on the edge of anarchy, but far enough from the line of chaos that it doesn't become only the strongest survive . Any society needs rules by which people must live, but there must be limits placed on those rules and rulers. We too often elect someone to power and then turn our backs as they pass regulation after regulation. We then are shocked when we receive a parking ticket for parking in our own driveway because of an ordinance that prevents anyone from parking within thirty feet of the road. You might think this sounds ridiculous, but it actually happened in a Pittsburgh neighborhood.

In my own little burg people woke in surprise after a three year battle to find they can only dispose  trash in special yellow bags that can be purchased from only the county. Once the citizens woke up and became aware they managed to get the silly law stricken from the books.

These are just two examples of thousands or millions of these things happening all over the country. These things can only happen because government was given too much power. Because of government creep we now have the NSA spying on all Americans. Government now controls almost every aspect of our life. Congressional power has been passed on to the Executive Branch in the form of agencies.

The lowercase libertarian believes there are free market solutions to most of today's problems. With few exceptions it takes government much more money and time to do what the free market can accomplish for less.

We find many many uppercase Libertarians who believe many of the problems lie with corporations. They even see the problem with mega corporation's  marriage to government. The uppercase Libertarian will seek solutions through government. After the latest Wall Street crash we found many of these Libertarians with the Occupy groups who sought more regulations. Increased regulation is growing government.

The lowercase libertarian would solve the problem by reducing regulation and government. If government hadn't had the power to create this government-finance partnership, the crash wouldn't have happened. Had the government not interfered in the housing market, this wouldn't have happened. Mortgage companies were forced by government to give loans they knew to be risky. In the end they were happy to make those loans because they could in turn sell them to quasi government entities such as Fannie Mae. Wall Street was all to happy to bundle these loans into securities and sell them worldwide.

If we look at how people see that one problem and their solutions we can separate the lowercase libertarian from the uppercase Libertarian. If we add on social issues then we can clearly define all political groups. There is the Democratic Party, Republican Party, Conservatives, and the Libertarian Party. There are subtle differences that makes the lowercase libertarian an outcast in most groups. We know the Democratic party is progressive and for big government. In today's world there is little difference between the two major parties.

We then come to the conservatives. At first look they appear similar to lowercase libertarians, but then we come to social issues. It's there they suddenly become big government oriented. They want government protectionism for such things as marriage, gambling, and drugs—just to list a few. Conservatives demands government legislate their brand of morality.

Then comes the Libertarian Party. It seems to be a mixed bag. It has true lowercase libertarians, but in the mix they have true communist who see the perfect society as being governed much like the Amish have for centuries. Add the Anarchist and you never know what will come next.

The lowercase libertarian has no party and will always be the outcast and forced to wear the extremist label. This is despite the fact we are less extreme than all the other groups. We believe people should be allowed to do stupid things as long as it doesn't harm others. It is the job of families to help those with addiction and other problems, not the government. Government imprisons addicts rather than treating them. Government too often prevents Americans from helping addicted family members.

But let's be sure legalization of drugs is not high on the list, it is often simply used as an example of how forced prohibition has never worked. The 21^st Amendment is a testament to how prohibition fails.

The government ban of something has never worked. The only thing government bans accomplish is to drive up crime and increase market value. This is why the lowercase libertarian believes less government is usually the best solution. Because of New York City regulations on restaurants, they have created the underground diner.

For all the reasons above, it will be the lowercase libertarians that will save the world from itself. Any other course and we will live under tyranny, much worse than the one Americans live under today. We must choose the only road to liberty, the lowercase libertarian.


The article can also be found at America Chooses