A few years ago, a friend of mine, a liberal, a democrat, sent me a link to an article that essentially said that libertarians would never be taken seriously because… well, because we always said things that couldn’t be taken seriously.  In other words, libertarians can’t be taken seriously because they (we) are too radical, too extremist.  I’ve said this to him many times before, and I doubt this will be the last time, “David, I think you’re wrong.” I also know that he is right… to a degree.

Too often, libertarians are portrayed as members of the lunatic fringe with crazy ideas.  People have this perception that we are all anarchists who want to get rid of every last bit of government. There seems to be this idea out there that all libertarians want to get rid of roads and sewage treatment and any other modern convenience that might possibly be provided by government.  I’ll admit that there are some people out there who hold these radical ideals.  There is an anarchist portion of the libertarian movement. I won’t even try to deny that.  There are also extremists in every other political, social, and philosophical movement out there.  Name pretty much any -ism and you can find someone who has espoused an extreme version of it.

Like any other movement though, most of us are much more moderate than that.  There are a great many libertarians who understand that life is not a black and white dichotomy, that life in the real world is not quite that simple. What sets libertarians apart from what most people call liberals and conservatives, from Democrats and Republicans, is that we agree with one side of the aisle on some issues and with the other side on other issues.  On most social issues we agree with the Democrats.  I don’t care what you do in your personal life or in your personal relationships and I certainly don’t think that the government should involve itself in your morality.  On most fiscal issues we tend to side with the Republicans.  We tend to believe in the market forces of capitalism and we tend to believe that we shouldn’t spend money that we don’t have and can’t afford to pay back. (Though many Republicans seem to have lost sight of that last bit.)

At its heart, libertarianism is about liberty.  (Thus the name.) It is about freedom.  It is about self determination. Most libertarians that I know more or less believe that you should be able to do anything you want to do… as long as it doesn’t infringe on the rights of others to do what they want to do.  It’s that second part that creates the gray areas that I will talk about in many of my posts.

For me there is also a second part to libertarianism or perhaps more aptly a moral obligation that I feel exists in conjunction with those liberties.  My parents taught me as a kid that with rights come responsibilities.  With the liberty to choose what I put into my own body comes the obligation to accept the health consequences of putting things like alcohol or drugs into my own system.  With the liberty to freely express my own opinions comes the consequences that people who disagree with me may not want anything to do with me.  With the liberty to pursue whatever career path I choose and to make as much money as I can comes the moral obligation to not step on others along the way and to give back to my community and those who have been less fortunate than me.  I am a libertarian.  That does not make me cold and heartless.  It just means that I don’t believe that politicians in Washington DC know the best way for me to give back to my community in Montana.

So, why am I doing this?  I am writing this blog to share my view of what libertarians are about.  This is my perspective and these are my opinions.  I don’t speak for all libertarians and I don’t speak for the Libertarian Party (though I am a member).  I just want to share a different image of libertarians than the one you often see in the media.  We are not all radical extremists.  We are not all heartless jerks.  We are not all marijuana smoking hippies. Some of us are some of those things, and some of us are all of those things, but most of us are just regular people who don’t really agree with either of the 2 major parties.  I hope that you enjoy reading my posts.  I hope I can broaden some people’s understanding of libertarians, and I hope that you find me to be a libertarian worth taking seriously.