Libertarians?
With the Supreme Court’s recent ruling on medical marijuana, I’ve learned a little more about my political beliefs and persuasions. Frequent readers might remember this post regarding gun control. Just as then, I’m a little surprised by my inner monologue. Who would have guessed that I’ve got a little libertarian in me?
“Libertarian?!” You might ask. “Aren’t those the wackos who want to strip the federal government of most of its powers and drop the nation dangerously close to anarchy?” Well, yes and no. Please, allow for some further explanation:
In the 90’s, with Democrats in control (sort of) and agreeable legislation passing through Congress, I thought that a strong government was a pretty neat thing. A big, powerful federal government can do great things like protect the environment, supply social aid to people at home and abroad, and generally work towards bettering America. When your party is in power, big government is a big party!
Starting in 1994 with the Republican takeover of the House and continuing through the present, Democrats have been losing wherever and whenever possible. The current leadership is made up of socially conservative religious fundamentalists with whom I disagree over just about every policy issue. Needless to say, I’m no happy with what my government is doing.
The current administration is using big government to wage wars in the Middle East, bankrupt America’s future, deny women of their reproductive rights, outlaw same-sex unions, destroy the middle class, and generally divide our nation over as many issues as possible.
I’ve learned an important lesson from this massive takeover of my beloved country: The same big Hand that helps you one day can smack you square on the nose the next. The only sure way to safeguard against misappropriation of our government’s power and our tax revenue is to deny the government such overreaching power.
The crux of the problem is that only the losers believe it’s a good idea. There was a time when the Right clamored for small government. Now that they’re in power, those ideas have been forgotten. Likewise, when Democrats controlled Congress and had the power to change the rules, they were greedy with power and made no attempts.
The Libertarian ideals are not an ideal solution–they are practical. In a nation as large and divided as America, a powerful federal government will never act in the best interest of all citizens. State and local control is much more effective at responding to the needs of the local citizens.
And now for the oil tie-in: As we run out of cheap oil in the coming years, production of goods and especially of food will have to become much more localized. We simply won’t be able to ship food and junk around the globe to take advantage of cheap labor when the cheap oil is gone. Along with a drive to localize our industrial production, why not localize our government?
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(Imagine the shock when I discovered that I secretly harbored a desire for a small federal government. I sound like a Republican circa 1990!)
Filed under Uncategorized : Comments (0) : Jun 15th, 2005 by tadfad
