Conservatives Should Consider The Libertarian Party

The late Ronald Reagan embodied the soul of classic liberalism – that’s right, Reagan was a liberal. His unbridled optimism and faith in the power of the individual to live his or her life independently, solve problems, and function as a contributing member of society, and his determination to expand the cause of freedom restrained only by morality are hallmarks of what the term “liberal” actually means. However, just as socialists usurped the term “liberal” and transformed its meaning to designate a person or party which supports larger, more intrusive government as a mechanism for peace and “prosperity”, Reagan utilized the philosophical underpinnings of classic liberalism to form today’s conservative movement.

Since Reagan, many Republican politicians have donned the “conservative” mantle without an understanding of what wearing that title entails. As a result, both federal and state governments have grown larger, require more of your tax money to exist, and created more cavernous deficits. Even our current president struggles to maintain the interest of a conservative base while creating his newest entitlement program which expands the fiscal black hole known as Medicare. Just as the Democratic Party abandoned Ronald Reagan, the Republican Party appears to have abandoned conservatives.

Social and fiscal conservatives do have a viable alternative, and that is the Libertarian Party. Libertarianism was initially a reaction against Soviet rule in Russia and eastern Europe, but as our own government grows increasingly more intrusive, more expensive and less effective in its originally defined jobs (defense and law enforcement), Libertarians have discovered a rising popularity in our own country.

Libertarians believe that all power begins with the individual and flows up, rather than flowing from the top down. They understand that defense and law enforcement are best done on a collective basis, and support a strong, well-trained and well-funded military, as well as the checks and balances we have today in our criminal justice system. However, they do not believe that the FEDERAL government should be responsible for allocating state funds for education, funding for roads based upon the state’s “drunk driving” standards, or feeding, housing, clothing and medicating every man, woman and child comprising the loudest voting block during an election year.

Because one of the basic premises of libertarianism is that “I own myself”, personal responsibility is a large part of the libertarian picture. The individual is free to make any informed choice they want, but they must also accept the consequences of those choices. This means, of course, that tort lawyers would be out of business. If an individual chooses to smoke cigarettes or eat high-fat foods and develops heart problems at 40, they are not assigned victim status, or allowed to claim “disability” payments for injuries that are self-inflicted. Under current laws, drug addicts can receive SSD (Social Security Disability) because they chose to burn out their brain cells, and now can’t function. And we wonder why Social Security is going bankrupt?

Likewise, if an individual is upset about the plight of the homeless, the environment, or the drug problem in the neighborhood, the libertarian answer is “Look in the mirror for the solution.” Local problems are to be solved on a local basis by people who understand the problems, the people they are working with, and will be accountable for, and affected by, the solutions they impose. This doesn’t happen with the current slurry of cookie-cutter fixes determined by policy-wonks in Washington. For those people who believe that “big business” needs to be regulated, remember that it was the unholy alliance between “big business” and certain members of congress that allowed the so-called Robber Barons to reign during the Gilded Era, and recently, the actions of Senators Lieberman and Shays to defang the Accounting Oversight Board sowed the seeds for the criminal activities at Enron and WorldComm. The criminal behavior exhibited within business enterprises was ultimately brought to light by the media; government agencies then were forced to react.

The Libertarian ideal works within a sane and mature society, and the more conservatives work toward the establishment of one, the better our country will become. Don’t think of a third party vote as a wasted vote; think of it as a grass-roots referendum for change.